A presentation sword, circa 1858, complete with braid frog.

The sword is inscribed: “To Lieut. Colonel Lord Burghley of the 48th Northamptonshire Militia on the occasion of its second disembodiment”.

The  ivory hilt is set with garnets above quillons and the scabbard with elaborate silver-gilt mounts in Renaissance taste, 92cm overall.

The sword is of a type known as a mameluke; the name derived from the sabres used by Mamluk warriors of Mamluk Egypt in the early 16th Century.

Lord Burghley (1825-1895) inherited the title as 3rd Marquess of Exeter on the death, of his father in 1867.

REFERENCE: EWA 08665

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