Pattern 1803 Light Infantry Officer’s Sword, East India Company, 1805 circa (metal)

Pattern 1803 Light Infantry Officer’s Sword, East India Company, 1805 circa. The East India Company not only broadly followed the sword patterns laid down for the British Army, it also employed the same contractors and sword cutlers. This sword corresponds in dimension and hilt design to the 1803 pattern. However, on the decorated blade the arms of the Company replace the Royal Arms, while a female figure riding a camel and carrying an oriental parasol adds an eastern dimension, the significance of which is not known. Unusually, the scabbard is made of painted metal instead of leather, perhaps for greater durability in the tropics.