This French Revolution era infantry officer’s uniform sword dates circa 1780-1789 and is a rare and highly evocative example of late 18th-century French military sword design. The sword retains original patina on the guard and features a pommel representing a Phrygian bonnet, one of the most powerful symbols associated with liberty and revolutionary France. The grip is fitted with silver braided rings, with some wire coming loose as expected from age. The engraved triangular blade displays decorative motifs and the initials “IGB”. The sword is offered without a scabbard and comes from a French American collector and museum curator.
The Phrygian cap became one of the defining symbols of the French Revolution, representing liberty, republican identity, and the overthrow of old regime authority. Officer swords from the years surrounding 1789 occupy an important transitional place between the monarchy, revolutionary symbolism, and the changing military culture of France. Decorative blades with engraved motifs and initials are especially desirable because they preserve the personal and symbolic language of the period, while the Phrygian bonnet pommel directly connects this sword to the revolutionary visual vocabulary of late 18th-century France.
This is a rare and historically charged French Revolutionary sword with exceptional display value. The Phrygian bonnet pommel, original patina, silver braided grip rings, engraved triangular blade, IGB initials, and 1780-1789 dating make it a standout piece for collectors of French Revolution artifacts, 18th-century officer swords, Revolutionary-era symbolism, and European military history. It is exactly the type of sword that captures the political and martial transformation of France at the end of the 18th century.
Provenance: From a French American collector and museum curator.
Condition: No scabbard. Some grip wire coming loose.
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