Smallsword ID?!

"unity makes strength", the motto of Belgium.. also used by Bulgaria and Haiti on coats of arms, but we don't see Bulgaria and certainly not Haiti, as being much for the use of small swords in the day. I don't know, but my guess is Belgium, a presentation piece from the Victorian Era (Victorian Age reproduction) --and that's all it is, a guess. Great looking sword, really nice. Hopefully somebody else knows more.
 
Haiti would have been quite French-speaking at the time, I bet whoever was wearing the white wigs kept some swords around. :)
 
Thank you for the "guess!"
Apparently for Belgium the motto is either in French or Flemish. However, I found out that this exact latin pharase (Concordia res parvae crescunt) was the motto the Dutch Republic (1581-1795) word by word. So there might be a Dutch connection. Somebody else suggested a French origin because of the style and workmanship. I'll keep digging, maybe find out more about it.
 
Mecha said:
Haiti would have been quite French-speaking at the time, I bet whoever was wearing the white wigs kept some swords around. :)
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I am pretty sure Haiti didn't have a swords-making armoury at that time. Meanwhile, I got more hints, so please have a look at my other message.
 
mariusgmioc said:
I am pretty sure Haiti didn't have a swords-making armoury at that time. Meanwhile, I got more hints, so please have a look at my other message.
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Swords in Haiti would be from Europe, of course, the coat of arms is just an interesting connection between the Caribbean colonies and European powers of the day. :)
 
horseclover said:
As you have threads on several boards, you have had some good bets but keep in mind the destination/purpose of the sword doesn't mean it was produced in the same country.

Cheers

GC

http://swordlinks.com/courtswords/courtswords.html
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Also, in the late 19th and early 20th century Bulgaria was a kingdom, and its kings were of the German/Austro-Hungarian Saxe-Coburg and Gotha dynasty. They had cousins at most European royal courts.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_I_of_Bulgaria

Quote:
"The son of Prince August of Saxe-Coburg and his wife Clémentine of Orléans, daughter of king Louis Philippe I of the French, Ferdinand was a grandnephew of Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and of Leopold I, first king of the Belgians. His father Augustus was a brother of Ferdinand II of Portugal, and also a first cousin to Queen Victoria, her husband Albert, Prince Consort, Empress Carlota of Mexico and her brother Leopold II of Belgium. These last two, Leopold and Carlota, were also first cousins of Ferdinand I's through his mother, a princess of Orléans. This made the Belgian siblings his first cousins, as well as his first cousins once removed (his father's first cousins). Indeed, the ducal family of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha had contrived to occupy, either by marriage or by direct election, several European thrones in the course of the 19th century. Following the family trend, Ferdinand was himself to found the royal dynasty of Bulgaria.”

While there is a remote theoretical possibility that the sword, which was definitely made outside Bulgaria, belonged to a Bulgarian royal at the time, I don’t think that this would be the case.
The Belgian or Dutch origin of this sword is much more likely.
 
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The large pas d'ane are of an earlier style. I find the thoughts of it 19th or 20th century unlikely. While stylized cast grips are not uncommon in the 19th century, they are more often plated brass and not gilt on silver, as we see here.

Cheers

GC
 
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