!872 sword with 1902 "style" grip?

[kquest]

Hi,

I recently purchased this sword. What attracted me to it was the blending of styles. The wooden 1902 "style" grip seems to be made for this sword. I have seen many examples of the 1872 sword, but all have the leather or sharkskin covered grip. I have never seen one like this. There are no markings on the blade that I can see, and the blade is void of any engraving. The scabbard does have some scattered rust and the sword is loose in the scabbard. Should there be some sort of insert in the throat of the scabbard to "grip" the blade? Any opinions about the sword and if I should "clean" it in any way would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

[SARGE]

These are interesting sword variations of the US Model 1872 Mounted Officer Sabre. I think tightening up the hilt with a sliver of wood placed between the blade and the guard would do the trick of tightening up the hilt. The good thing about this is that the repair can be undone without hurting the sword in any way if desired later.

The scabbard usually has a pair of thin wooden liners that are held in place by the removable brass throat piece that are probably missing from your sword resulting in a rattle or looseness. These too can be replaced without much trouble. You just have to fit them through trial an error. The looseness does not hurt anything as it is. I would also try light gun or sewing machine oil (not a penetrating oil like WD40) to wipe away active rust. You can always become more agressive later if you don't like the result but once removed patina is gone forever so do the least harmful thing first. Decide what you want the sword to look like before you clean/polish/remove any patina. Take a look at the cleaning a sword sticky above for cleaning tips.

A nice M1872 variation with this grip!