The hilt of this interesting sword is of a THE type seen on the British officers swords in accordance to the April 3rd 1786 British Adjutant-General's Order that did away with the nearly useless and archaic spontoon, prescribing instead for the officers to carry a sword. Light infantry foot officers' spadroons were often hilted with the more useful and ergonomic cavalry-style saber blades. This is such a sword, exhibiting the spadroon-style 5-ball design of the hilt and a 26.5"/67 cm-long sturdy cut and thrust blade, which obviously has sustained some battle damage at the foible, most definitely from a projectile - a ball or a grape shot. Steel hilt is missing the reverse langet, otherwise is in fine shape. Sword is very tight, with no play.