477 - A beautiful court sword presented by the noncommissioned officers of the 95th

A beautiful court sword presented by the noncommissioned officers of the 95th Line Infantry Regiment to their colonel in 1886; the straight blade is made of steel, half-blued and half-gilded, the obverse inscribed “The Non-Commissioned Officers of the 95th Line Regiment to their Colonel,” the reverse dated “March 7, 1886,” with a gilded border featuring plant motifs, volutes, lambrequins, and mosaics in the Rocaille style; the guard is made of gilded bronze and chiseled with laurel leaves, acanthus leaves, and small flowers, the truncated conical pommel decorated with winged barrels; the symmetrical crossguard adorned with garlands of oak and ribboned laurel leaves, featuring a quillon terminating in a lion’s head; the tang is made of gadrooned tortoiseshell. Paris, Third Republic period, circa 1886. The blade is signed by the cutler “G. Léon à Paris.” L. 79 cm (blade). L. 94 cm (total).