Luxurious gilt admiral's saber, signed Manceaux, Restoration period. From the Philippe Missillier collection, Auction House Giquello, Drouot - rooms 5-6, March 6 & 7, 2025.

PHILIPPE MISSILLIER COLLECTION
EARLY PERIOD – BOOKS – 17TH CENTURY FIREARMS
HUNTING ART – PHALERISTICS
18TH AND 19TH CENTURY WEAPONS – RUSSIAN ART
Friday, March 7, 2025 - 11am to 12pm
AFRICA AND OCEANIA – FAR EAST
Friday, March 7, 2025 - 2pm
ISLAMIC AND INDIAN ART
Drouot - rooms 5-6

EXHIBITION
Tuesday, March 4 from 11am to 6pm
Wednesday, March 5 from 11am to 6pm
Thursday, March 6 from 11am to 12pm
Phone during exhibition +33(0)1 48 00 20 05

GIQUELLO
Alexandre Giquello
Violette Stcherbatcheff
5, rue La Boétie - 75008 Paris
+33 (0)1 47 42 78 01 - info@giquello.net
with approval
lot no. 2002 389

CONTACT
Claire Richon
+33(0)1 47 70 48 00
c.richon@giquello.net

EXPERT
Bertrand Malvaux, CNES

Lot n° 235 (of the sale)
Luxury gilded admiral's saber, signed Manceaux, Restoration period.

Gilt mount and scabbard fittings, hallmarks: vieillard 1st standard of Paris, 1819/1838; average guarantee of Paris, 1819/1838; first hallmark of the silversmith Cahier (student of Guillaume Biennais, whose workshop he took over in 1821 before going bankrupt in 1830, he was the King's Silversmith). Smooth single-branch guard, decorated at the bottom with acanthus leaves, palmettes, and flowers. Crossguard with a large ear on each side representing the face of Neptune resting on buttons with feathered leaves, flowers, and lightning bolts, curved quillon in the shape of a lion's head with foliage and acanthus leaves. Pommel adorned with a goddess's head with braided hair (Amphitrite?) or warrior, with acanthus leaves, palmettes, feathered leaves, a transverse perforation for the cord, and a filigree silver horn handle.
Damascus blade signed "Coulaux frères / at Klingenthal," mirror-polished with a gold background on its first 37 centimeters. Abundantly decorated on the obverse side from top to bottom with floral motifs, acanthus leaves, feathered leaves, buttons, a trophy of arms, then a cartouche with the inscription "F DE NORMANVILLE," a cartouche with a lion, a medallion with a dolphin and a winged Jupiter thunderbolt. The other side is identical but without the central inscription on the cartouche. Blade length 84 cm.
Scabbard made of wood covered in black waxed leather, silver thread embroidery at the back, with three relief-molded decorations on the front and smooth at the back. Chape signed "Manceaux à Paris," with a trophy of arms and an ancient helmet. Central fitting with a trophy of arms and ancient cuirass. Long end of the scabbard bordered: at the top with floral scrolls with palmettes, Athena sitting on a globe and an architectural capital, and a mask at the base; in the center, a winged Jupiter spindle with the head of the Nemean lion, flowers, and acanthus leaves, this part is framed at the top and bottom by a molding with feathered leaves and flowers; at the bottom palmettes, acanthus leaves, flowers, and lion heads. Iron tip.
France.
Restoration period.
Very good condition.
50000/80000
Note: This saber model is directly inspired if not copied from the model created by Nicolas Boutet of the Versailles Manufacture for some admirals under the First Empire; there are currently two known examples: one belonging to Admiral Ganteaume, from the Ganteaume estate, sold in Lyon on May 12, 1969, then the Hutin collection, sold in Reims on March 26, 2000, then Jean-Louis Noisiez, sold in Fontainebleau on February 2, 2025; a second example from the residence of the first and second Baron Bloomfield, in Loughton, County Offaly (Ireland), then passed down through generations until its auction by Christie's in London on April 7, 1982, lot 58. The presented example appears to be the only one currently produced by Manceaux.
Biography: Manceaux Joseph-François. Former chief blade maker at the Versailles Manufacture, he set up as a sword cutler in Paris around 1806 and became a renowned cutler at the time; he led the Klingenthal depot during the Empire and then the blade depot of the Royal Klingenthal Manufacture.