Original Item: Only One Available. Now this is a fantastic offering! This is an Imperial German Pre-Deutsche Reichsbahn, Railway Official/Officer sword. This is a rather rare sword to find on today’s market, so you do not want to miss the opportunity to add this to your collections.

The first railways to be owned by the German Empire, which was founded in 1871, were the Imperial Railways in Alsace-Lorraine, whose Imperial General Division of Railways in Alsace-Lorraine (Kaiserliche General-Direktion der Eisenbahnen in Elsass-Lothringen) had its headquarters in Straßburg (now Strasbourg). It was formed after France had ceded the territory of Alsace-Lorraine in 1871 to the German Empire and the newly created Third French Republic had formally purchased the French Eastern Railway Company (French: Compagnie des chemins de fer de l'Est or German: Französische Ostbahn-Gesellschaft) and then sold it again to the German Empire. After the end of the First World War this national "imperial railway" was taken back by France.

In the remaining German states, by contrast, the existing state railways continued to be subject to their respective sovereigns, despite the fact that Otto von Bismarck had tried in vain to purchase the main railway lines for the Empire. A similar attempt failed in 1875 as a result of opposition from the middle powers when Albert von Maybach presented a draft Reich Railway Act to the Bundesrat.

In the wake of the stipulations of the Weimar Constitution of 11 August 1919, the state treaty on the foundation of the Deutsche Reichseisenbahnen ("German Reich Railways") came into force on 1 April 1920. This resulted in the merger of the existing state railways (Länderbahnen) of Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, Württemberg, Baden, Mecklenburg and Oldenburg under the newly formed German Reich.

The sword is single edged with a single fuller running down the center of the blade. The hilt is made up of lovely brass hardware with a twisted brass handle, globe like pommel and a clamshell chape above the crossguard. The motifs present on both the sword and scabbard are the standard “Winged Wheel” railway insignia with tracks. The scabbard is correct and original to the sword and features the similar insignia. All brass hardware on the scabbard, the suspension rings and hanger bracket are still present and in wonderful condition. The black leather is still quite solid and presents itself without any extensive damage.

Comes more than ready for further research and display.

Dimensions:
Blade Length: 29 1/2”
Overall Length: 35 1/2”
Handguard: 4 1/2”L x 5”W
Scabbard Length: 30 1/4”