Spanish M1907 Puerto-Seguro cavalry saber










Measurements
length: 42"
blade: 35 1/2"
blade width: 1 1/6"
grip and pommel: 6"
guard: 4 3/4"w x 7"h x 6"l
weight 2 lbs 6.2 oz

Model 1908-1918 Spanish "Puerto-Seguro" cavalry saber. Perfectly straight military sabres with T-back reinforced blades and half-basket guards were the very last gasp of weapons for horse-mounted cavalry. Some clever Brit decided that since cavalry was completely useless in modern (1870-ish) warfare, they might as well ditch those pesky over-long lances and charge with straight swords extended to the fore. It's not as if they actually had any chance of ever completing a cavalry charge ever again in the face of infantry armed with heavy machine guns. Even more clever than the clever Brittish supplier who invented these was the American lieutenant-someday-to-be-known-as-General George S. Patton, who stole the idea and claimed it as his own, about two decades before giving up on horses completely and switching over to tanks. If the British and the Americans decided that straight sabres would save the cavalry from obsolescence, that was good enough for every other First and Second World military power of the time. This blade is marked "Artilleria Fca Nacional", and "2339". Design on the basket is two crossed straight sabres and two crossed lances with pennons. This type of sword is an absolute terror for stabbing cardboard boxes, I've had hours of fun with one.

Note received from a friend at Sword Forum:
"about the M1907 Puerto-Seguro you have recently put for sale in your website - No, there's nothing wrong about the description. I just thought that you might like to know that what you have there it's a trooper's weapon (the version for officials is smaller, plus the grip slabs are plastic instead of wood), and that the engraving on the basket was the emblem for the Cavalry Section of the Spanish Army of that time."