Marine’s sabre

anonymous, 1812

Scheepssabel No. 2 in schede. Gebogen kling met brede bloedgeul, geelkoperen gevest met gebogen voorbeugel en neerhangende pareerstang met eindknop. Aan beide kanten is op de kling ruw een anker gegraveerd. De schede heeft een messing onderband en bovenband met draagknop voor de draagband.

  • Artwork typesabre
  • Object numberNG-MC-741
  • Dimensionssword: length 81.1 cm, scabbard: length 66.8 cm
  • Physical characteristicsiron, brass and leather

anonymous

Marine's Sword in Scabbard

Netherlands, 1812

Inscriptions

  • mark: various marks

Provenance

...; transferred from the Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague, to the museum, 1883

Object number: NG-MC-741

Entry

Sword for a marine.

Curved blade fullered on both sides, brass hilt with curved knuckle guard and obverse quillon with terminal button. On both sides an anchor is etched in the blade. The scabbard has a brass chape and top locket with frog stud.

The identification of this sword is uncertain, since it dot not carry a catalogue number when it was found. This marine’s sword was officially known as the ‘scheepssabel N° 2’ (shipboard sword N° 2). The pattern was introduced in 1818. From 1825 it became known as the Marine’s sword. It had the same blade as the Navy sword N° 1, but the hilt of the French ‘sabre briquet’. It was used in all the lower ranks of the Marines, until it was replaced by the machete in the 1880s.

Literature

J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 741; J.P. Puype, Blanke wapens. Nederlandse slag- en steekwapens sinds 1600 … , Lochem/Popperinge 1981, p. 16, figs. 109, 237

Citation

J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'anonymous, Marine's Sword in Scabbard, Netherlands, 1812', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200315889

(accessed 9 December 2025 14:11:59).