Original Item: Only One Available. This is a nice example of the plain nickel Dove Head sword worn by Army NCO's, made by the Solingen-based firm of Weyersberg Kirschbaum & Cie. It has a custom etched nickel plated blade, named to the 58th Field Artillery Regiment, a German regiment that served during WWI. This sword design is a simplified version of the Officer's dove's head sword, without the decorative designs and engraving usually seen on the hilt. It has the standard "P" guard used on German dress swords, with a simple cross guard and plain rain guards (chappes). The hilt is nickel plated steel from what we can tell, and retains most of the nickel plating, with a lovely patina of age.

The scabbard of this example still has good black lacquer, retained at nearly 100%. It does appear to have been repainted at some point, but it was long ago as there is finish crazing in the top coat. The shell is straight, and we cannot see any large dents at all.

The grip is a very nice shark skin over a wood base. It is wrapped with three strands of twisted nickel-plated wire, with the central strand being much thicker than the outer
two. There is some looseness in the wrappings, probably from the celluloid shrinking a bit. The original felt blade buffer is still present, however it is definitely worn from age and oxidation.

The 30 ½” blade of this example is in very good condition, and does not show any signs of use or abuse. These were ceremonial swords, and not really intended for cutting. The nickel-plating is just shy of complete, with just a few specs of rust where the plating has worn, mainly on the edge. The plating does show a bit of flaking at the tip, and has some oxidation under the chappe. The etched designs on the blade are very nice, showing "crossed cannons" and other designs on one side, surrounding the regimental designation in Black Letter Type with a lovely blued background retained very well:

Mindensches - Artill. Rgt. Nr. 58

The 58th (Minden) Field Artillery Regiment served under the VII Army Corps. On mobilization on 2 August 1914 the Corps was restructured. 13th and 14th Cavalry Brigades were withdrawn to form part of the 9th Cavalry Division. The 16th Uhlans, formerly of the IV Corps, was raised to a strength of 6 squadrons before being split into two half-regiments of 3 squadrons each. The half-regiments were assigned as divisional cavalry to 13th and 14th Divisions. 28th Infantry Brigade was assigned to the 14th Reserve Division with the VII Reserve Corps. Divisions received engineer companies and other support units from the Corps headquarters. In summary, VII Corps mobilized with 25 infantry battalions, 9 machine gun companies (54 machine guns), 6 cavalry squadrons, 24 field artillery batteries (144 guns), 4 heavy artillery batteries (16 guns), 3 pioneer companies and an aviation detachment.

The other side of the blade has a lovely etched landscape showing a horse-drawn artillery train, with numerous soldiers. Above this are 3 overlapping horse heads.

The reverse ricasso is stamped with the double trademark "King's Head" alongside a "Knights's Head" logo of legendary maker Weyersberg Kirschbaum & Cie of Solingen, over the firms initials of W.K & C. This trademark is used on private purchase blades and walking-out bayonets during the WWI period and prior. Unfortunately the chappe/rainguard completely covers this area, so photographing the logo is impossible.

Overall a very good condition high quality NCO sword, named to a WWI German Regiment, made by a legendary German sword maker, based in Solingen, the "City of Blades" in Western Germany. Ready to hang on the wall!

Dimensions:
Blade length: 31 1/2”
Overall length: 36 3/4”
Handguard: 4 1/2”L x 6”W
Scabbard length: 32 1/2”