FRANCE, fin du XIXème siècle BALP, Saint Étienne. Naval officer's saber, model 1837. Gilded cast brass hilt with one branch, a plate openwork with leaves and a roped anchor, and a dolphin-head quillon. Black-painted horn or wood (?) spindle. Single-edged straight blade with two hollow sides and two gutters, finished with a counter-edge and rounded back. Signed on the heel. With a black leather scabbard (too long), fluted, with three gilded brass fittings, with two rings, a roped anchor on the chape and a shell button. Blade length: 64.9 cm - Total length: 97.7 cm. Shortened blade. Low-quality hilt molding; ferrule with later hook; watermark missing. Wear, particularly to the gilding, scratches and a few bumps; some oxidation to the blade, cracks to the scabbard, with fittings to be refixed. ATTACHED: - a belt in black thread braid and black leather, with gilded brass fittings. Wear, cuts and oxidation. - two black thread lanyards. One ruined, the other modern. BALP, fourbisseur stéphanois active since 1830, still in business after several production stops and restarts.