The early french sabre briquet is extremely difficult to get though, mostly originals. Most units just use the later one, because finding an early version is difficult.
You might have seen it, the difference is pretty much only the handle. The one we have is an original early version, the one in NW is the late version. The early version is more squarish.
That's not really right either. If the Suhr drawings are accurate, soldiers wore different models, but the ones that had a guard with multiple bars, they always covered the entire hand and not just the front, like this. That one also clearly has only one bar. Two-bar-models can be seen though, as well as models looking very much like the French sabre-briquet.
True, but there's always the issue: does anyone actually even make those models nowadays?
Most of the early versions are not available as replicas, I am only aware of the early prussian model. Most french models are not. Infact, the french sabre briquet replica most people have is actually the prussian sabre... I mean, the difference is negligible, if existant, but its still there.
