Romania Carlos I sword with paperback blade - Question

[Derek M]

Hello forum members and Happy New Year to everyone.

I am wondering if anyone can help me with any additional information regarding this Romanian sword.

The pipe-back with false back-edge tip blade is in immaculate almost mint condition for it's age. You can even see the frosting background amongst the etching/engraving of the word Toledo, the Romanian crest and the Royal monogram of Carlos I.

Details:
The spine has 'Carl Eickhorn Solingen' on it with leaves running down the spine.
Under the front langet is the early Carl Eickhorn maker mark of two back-to-back squirrels.

The back langet has the royal monogram of Carlos I surmounted by a crown.
The front langet has four quarters to it and a central smaller shield in the middle surmounted by a crown as well.

The four quarters 'simply' stated:
First quarter: an eagle
Second quarter: a bull
Third quarter: a lion
Fourth quarter: two fish standing on their heads with tail in the air.

The grip appears to be a sort of old bakelite plastic over a solid wood core with sterling silver wire wrap.

The entire hilt appears to be plated, possibly nickel ? and the eagle head has two ruby eyes (I looked at the red eyes through a 20x jewelers loop and the characteristic of the stone eyes are that of a ruby with what looks like carefully faceted cuts performed with a 'jewelers carefulness/quality' in mind.)

Can any kind forum member inform me of:

1. What type of sword is this? a Romanian Cavalry Officer sword??
2. Could this sword be pre-1900's (i.e. 1880 timeframe) or very early 1900's? I am hoping that it is an early example during the late 1800's.
3. Is this a rare or scarce sword? (I get the impression that a quick online search implies that Romanian swords are scarce and hard to find.)
4. Any other information anyone can kindly share about this sword.

Enjoy the photos and I hope someone can answer my questions above and tell me more about what sword I have here.

[Derek M]

A few more photos:

[Derek M]

One more photo of blade tip type:

[Derek M]

Last few photos:

[George Wheeler]

Derek,

Your sword is shown in my 1931 dated Eickhorn catalog for Rumanien as their catalog Number 653. It is identified as an "Offizier Sabel (Sabie Offitereasca)". The blade shown in the catalog is straight instead of curved as seen on your sword. The scabbard has the same two rings but is straight and painted black. The only swords shown with curved blades are Navy Officer sword variations with naval motifs. The two back to back squirrels Eickhorn logo is typically earlier than circa 1931 so perhaps your sword is from around the WWI time period.

I hope this information is helpful.

[Derek M]

Hello George and thank you kindly for the information, greatly appreciated.

Admittedly, this sword is certainly‘outside’ my normal area of interest/expertise, but it looked so unique that I had to take a chance at it.

I see only a couple examples online that have an identical slightly curved pipe-back blade with similar blade etchings and also with either ‘Toledo’ or ‘Solingen’ script. I imagine the officer opted to purchase a blade variant not strictly controlled by any regulation?

However, I am still confused on one thing...Might you know why every search online indicated that these types of eagle head Romanian swords are extremely hard to find or either scarce or rare? Is this true? Maybe these types of swords were produced in low volume?

Thanks again for your reply and hopefully others will jump in too to comment.

[Derek M]

Just an f.y.i. for fellow forum members for anyone interested, I was able to find a website that appears to be resourceful for Romanian crest information:
https://www.fotw.info/flags/ro).html

I am still interested if anyone might be able to confirm if these Romanian eagle head swords are truly scarce or rare? and if so, why might this be?

Thanks again to all those willing to share their knowledge and expertise.

[Glen C.]

Old Swords has a Romanian eagle head pommel sabre listed as cavalry.



I have a white sharkskin gripped eagle sabre in a naval form I blame on Romania but I have no proof. That one from E.F.Horster.

(missing its crown nut)


Cheers
GC

[George Wheeler]

Derek,

It may be that this Romania was a small market because of the size of the military and that is why you are having trouble finding information. It may also be because of few collectors of Romanian swords?

Glen,

What is the device that appears on the front of your guard? Naval had an anchor, Air Force had a propeller, and the Police had a state coat of arms.

[Glen C.]

I found this one in a gun shop and without a pommel nut. I added a simple cutlery collet nut and added the felt washer. I later sprayed the grip black but may return it to white at some point.

It is the same Horster bird we see on the 1923 model Italian Air Force swords. Some have thought it to be a post war composite.

Cheers
GC

[George Wheeler]

Glen,

The scabbards for the Navy sword are shown as black leather with anchors on the gilt brass middle and top mounts. So, the scabbard does look like the Italian one and may be a miss-match. I think your sword is a "Marine-Unteroffiziersabel". A similar one is shown as their catalog number 1419 with a plain un-etched blade and this more plane guard. This black leather scabbard has plain mounts with engraved fouled anchors on the top and center mounts.

I hope this helps.

George

[Will Mathieson]

George I agree this scabbard could be a mismatch. It may just be the photo but it appears short for the blade, more than skrinkage could account for. Then again i've seen similar photos and this is an illusion.

[Glen C.]

The scabbard for mine was absolutely a mismatch, as the throat would not accept the blade. The scabbard was alos in parts, as broken in a couple of places I saved the fittings and tossed the remains of the leather, long gone 12 years ago..

The etching on the blade is less than crisp and a generic and non-descript fashion. Very light and very flexible with a clipped point.



Much of my stuff has been in storage for four years. I used to take the sword with me for exhibition of flexibility.

Cheers
GC

[Derek M]

Interesting flex in that blade Glen. How much angle of deflection is that?...and at which point/length from the tip does the flexion point begin? I would guess blade geometry comes into play and the thickness of blade spine?