202 - *Rare saber of an officer in the Imperial Guard’s mounted chasseurs, a non-regulation model by Boutet:

*Rare saber of an officer in the Imperial Guard’s mounted chasseurs, a non-regulation model by Boutet: Brass hilt with a single chiseled and gilded branch, modeled after the national award design, similar to those found on the sabers of the mounted chasseurs troops and the first model of the consuls’ hilts, but more elaborately decorated; a rounded shaft, adorned with braiding and grooving, as well as a crossguard ending in a faceted pommel; the upper part of the shaft is chiseled with a scroll motif; a long-tailed cap surmounted by a fluted pommel; large, oval, curved lugs, surrounded by a fillet; a wooden tang covered in gray shagreen, with double filigree. Regulation blade for a junior officer, curved, with a single hollow edge, blued and gilded one-third of the way up; in the center, within a gilded oval, the imperial eagle; the head and crown were ground down later, in 1814, as was the marking on the back, which retains some traces of the inscription (Mounted Hunter of the Imperial Guard). Iron scabbard, two gilded brass rings chiseled with a dotted rectangle; signed on the back, above the first ring: “Manufre Imple d’Ares à Versailles – Boutet & Fils”; pommel in the shape of a double button, similar to those found on ceremonial sabers; length 102 cm. (Wear at the scabbard opening, where the quillons pass through). Early Empire period. Good condition. The guard of this saber is of the same design as that of the national award saber belonging to Citizen SOULES of the Consuls’ Guard, on display at the Musée Lorrain in Nancy, and that of Citizen CAZEAU, captain in the 9½th Infantry Brigade, awarded for the Battle of Marengo (in a private collection). BOUTET, Nicolas Noël, born in 1761, died in 1833, renowned director of the Versailles Manufactory from Year II to 1818; he worked primarily on award weapons, ceremonial weapons, and luxury weapons, both bladed and firearms; these achieved worldwide renown for their quality of craftsmanship and the originality of their designs. He had a warehouse for the Manufacture in Paris, located at 1236 Rue de la Loi (Rue de Richelieu) in Year XI, and later at 87 Rue de Richelieu in 1807; he is listed as a private arquebusier in 1823 at 23 Rue des Filles Saint-Thomas, where he worked until 1831. He had a son, Pierre Nicolas, born in 1786 and died in 1816, which explains the occasional inscription: “BOUTET and Son.”