GUARANTEED TO BE GENUINE ANTIQUE AND OF THE PERIOD STATED

An exceptionally rare broadsword (palash) blade of Russian Dragoons from the reign of Peter the Great, circa 1710, the Northern War period.


Overall length  40 in. (1001,6 mm)

Blade  33 1/4 in. (844 mm)

Width  1 13/16 in. (46 mm)

The blade is decorated with a double headed Russian eagle on one side and inscription VIVAT  ZAAR  PETER  ALEXEITS on another.

The letter 'S' on the blade is almost certainly the first letter of  SOLINGEN, unfortunately, the rest of the word is erased.

A maker's mark is stamped on the tang.

Traces of a date below ALEXEITS,  possibly 1710.

Dragoon regiments were introduced by Peter the Great in 1711.  This blade was, possibly, among the earliest blades supplied for the Dragoons.  Apparently, of German origin and was made  in Solingen (Germany). The two blades with similar inscriptions, which are published in The Russian Weapons XI-XIX centuries, 1953, page 23 have later dates - 1716 and 1718. Both were made in Olonetz (Russia). According to the book, blades for the army of Peter The Great were made in Germany in Solingen and in Olonetz in Russia.