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James N.
Colonial Militia
USA
Bumppo's Patron since [at least]:
October 24 2007
Status: offline
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 Posted - November 27 2011 : 2:01:51 PM
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I originally stated in my account of working on Last of the Mohicans that I was hired in part because of my knowledge of things French and artillery-related. Though I've talked in here about aspects of artillery in the movie, I'd never really thought too much about sharing the collection I was amassing around the same time; now that my photo posting skills have improved, I'll do so, though my camera's not quite what I'd like for capturing small details. This is the setting I'm in when writing these posts; you can just see the top of my monitor:
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These are all ( except possibly one ) French epees or smallswords that cover ( from right-to-left on the display board ) a century of French history, ca. 1770 - 1870, Ancien Regime, Revolution, Empire, Restoration, and Second Empire. The short sabers are Revolutionary ( at left ) and Empire ( right ), worn by enlisted men and officers of infantry.
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This central group includes three different regulation swords for general officers: with the blued blade, for one of Napoleon's generals; to it's left with the tassel/sword knot, for one of his nephew Napoleon III's generals; and next, a ca. 1830 - 48 general of King Louis-Phillippe. ( The regimes can be determined by the designs in the cast-brass hilts. ) Others are variously for infantry, artillery, staff, and administrative officers.
The wall to my left sports part of my longarm and insignia collection:
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The weapons relate to Napoleon's cavalry, as do the prints, ca. 1790 - 1816. A closer look at the guns:
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From top-to-bottom, a light infantry or cavalry musket; a dragoon fusil ( "fuzee" in period English - a slightly smaller musket ); and a light cavalry musketon ( "little musket", or "musketoon" for its length ). The French were the first to standardize the caliber of their weapons which all shot a .69 round lead ball. These are all slightly later than those used during the French and Indian Wars or our Revolution, but are essentially simillar.
Above the door are two sabres Mlle. An XI ( 1804 ), for an officer and enlisted trooper( top ) of light cavalry.
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In another room are a couple of longer infantry muskets:
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All these are originals, EXCEPT the bottom one here, which is a Japanese ( ! ) reproduction of the M.1763 and one which I actually took to North Carolina and used at Dale Dye's infamous "boot camp"! It didn't make it to the actual filming, however, since I was never a French enlisted man; besides, the production had 200 of these in stock. The one at top is called a fusil depareille, essentially a "parts gun" made up during the French Revolution out of mixed parts from several different previous models of musket. A closer look at their locks; the repro is marked Charleville and the original is stamped Ste. Eitienne, two of the principal places of French military arms manufacture:
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James N.
Colonial Militia
USA
Bumppo's Patron since [at least]:
October 24 2007
Status: offline
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Posted - November 27 2011 : 2:59:29 PM
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A closer look, too, at the cavalry musketoons. Unfortunately, my collection does NOT consist of wonderful, pristine, mint-condition, "museum-quality" pieces; rather they're what I've stumbled across during the years, often showing considerable wear and repair/restoration. So it is with these, photographed outside on a crisp winter day in rather harsh light:
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They are, top-to-bottom: the Fusil d'Dragon ( dragoon musket ), used by both light infantry and cavalry who also fought on foot ( dragoons ); Musketon Mlle. An XIII, dated 1812 and the type used by most French Napoleonic cavalrymen; and the earlier-style Musketon d'Hussard, this one dating from the French Revolution and because of its almost toy-like scale intended for use by cavalry scouts. The top two are both engraved on the lockplates Mfture Imple Charleville showing them to have been made during Napoleon's Empire at the principal armory at Charleville. The other is engraved simply Gosuin a'Liege, a product of the Gosuin familly, gunmakers in Liege, Belguim, then a part of the French Empire.
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These short, relatively lightweight musketoons were worn suspended from a stout leather over-the-shoulder belt, fastened by a large steel clip hook attached to the ring on this sliding bar. This was so that if it was dropped while the cavalryman was on horseback it wouldn't be lost!
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I don't know if the surname Jouasse was added by a soldier or by someone later. French arms of this period ( and later ) had a HOLE drilled in the softer wood buttstock and a hard cherrywood plug inserted; this has been stamped EF to denote government property! ( Empire Francaise - French Empire! ) The other stampings around it are the date of accepptance, in this case in 1813.
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lane batot
Colonial Settler
USA
Bumppo's Patron since [at least]:
October 15 2011
Status: offline
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Posted - November 27 2011 : 3:42:56 PM
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| WOW!!!! What a collection! Quite impressive! And decorative! I guess all those swords over your computer monitor help when you are writing to git to the POINT! |
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Fitzhugh Williams
Mohicanland Statesman
Bumppo's Patron since [at least]:
July 17 2005
Status: offline
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Posted - November 28 2011 : 08:13:51 AM
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| That's a great collection. Looks like you have been working on it for some time. I especially like the swords. |
"Les deux pieds contre la muraille et la tete sous le robinet" |
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Monadnock Guide
Council of Elders
USA
Bumppo's Patron since [at least]:
March 14 2005
Status: offline
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Posted - November 28 2011 : 10:22:29 AM
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| Nice collection indeed James, ... a lot to be proud of there. |
you can keep "The Change" |
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James N.
Colonial Militia
USA
Bumppo's Patron since [at least]:
October 24 2007
Status: offline
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Posted - November 28 2011 : 10:58:40 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Fitzhugh Williams
That's a great collection. Looks like you have been working on it for some time. I especially like the swords.
Thank you all for your kind comments!
Fitz, as for the swords, most dealers are too stupid - er, I mean UNINFORMED! - to realize what smallswords of this type ARE, terming them all, regardless of nationality, "court swords". These lightweight sidearms WERE worn to various Eueropean "court" functions, but in this time period as well as earlier, GENTLEMEN, especially officers governed by both custom and regulation, were always supposed to wear one! Officers serving on horseback usually wore a heavy saber of various designs, but "foot" officers of infantry or artillery ( and mounted officers, including the generals, while on dismounted duty ) usually wore these instead.
Officers of the period ( and those are almost all officer's examples ) usually owned several different types of sword or saber. George Washington for example bequeathed four different swords to as many different nephews: The light "hunting" saber he wore throughout his military campaigns; an ornately-engraved heavier sabre presented to him supposedly by King Frederick "the Great" of Prussia; one similar to most of these, worn at his inauguration as President; and a similar but very plain one called a "mourning sword", worn at funerals and other solemn occasions. So it is with many of these; no doubt most of their owners had others for different uses.
I amassed all these over time years ago, including a good selection of French and French-style flint pistols, but two of those were stolen and I sold the rest to help pay for my HOUSE! I only have this rather pathetic Charleville Mlle. 1777 dated 80 ( 1780 ), which I wore either clipped to my waistbelt as either a Mexican Sergento or supposed Napoleonic War veteran Louis "Moses" Rose in The Alamo - The Price of Freedom; and a much-later Mlle. 1892 dated 1914 I keep LOADED in my nightstand! I haven't been in a position lately to add to these and will probably just continue enjoying them as "decorations"!
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IWLFNDU
Colonial Settler
USA
Bumppo's Patron since [at least]:
May 08 2010
Status: offline
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Posted - December 01 2011 : 6:06:12 PM
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Awesome collection, James! Two words: Antiques Roadshow!
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''Only when the last tree has died, the last river has been poisoned, and the last fish has been caught, will we realize that we cannot eat money.''
~ Cree Proverb |
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richfed
Sachem
USA
Bumppo's Patron since [at least]:
May 13 2002
Status: offline
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Posted - December 17 2011 : 12:51:37 PM
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| That is truly a spectacular looking collection, James ... fantastic!! |
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My French Arms Collection!
