Bismarck Miniature swod

[wessel]

This is a nice, though rather worn, example of the von Bismarck Birthday miniature sword. It came without a scabbard but I presume it originally would have had one.
The amount of info contained in such a small piece is wonderful!
The blade dedications translate as:
'To Prince von Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg on completion of your 80th year on 1st April 1895.' and, from one of his speeches:
'We Germans fear God but nothing else in the world.'
On the hand-guard is the coat of arms of the family with the motton 'In Trintate Robur,' In Trinity is the Power.
Does anyone have an example with the scabbard?
Johnson has a few example in his Imperial book (pp.191-193) but not this particular piece.

[wessel]

...

[wessel]

xxx

[streptile]

Very cool.

What is the history of the Bismarck Birthday sword?

I would be grateful for any references (websites or book recommendations) that tell the story.

[gregM]

Cool sword.
How big is it?

[wessel]

Thanks guys.
This and similar letter openers were produced to commemorate von Bismarck's 80th birthday.
This example has a 10''' blade

[streptile]

Thanks guys.
This and similar letter openers were produced to commemorate von Bismarck's 80th birthday.
This example has a 10''' blade

Thank you. It must be a model of a sword that was actually given to Bismarck, right? Just curious if there are any references to this original sword in books or on websites somewhere.

[wessel]

Sorry Streptile, I misunderstood.
There was a magnificent WKC Damascus bladed sword given to Bismarck to mark his 80th from the city of Solingen, and this can be seen in Johnson's book on Imperial swords, p. 192. The various dedications on the blade are not exactly the same as on the variety of miniatures
The actual sword can be seen in a Solingen museum.

[streptile]

Sorry Streptile, I misunderstood.
There was a magnificent WKC Damascus bladed sword given to Bismarck to mark his 80th from the city of Solingen, and this can be seen in Johnson's book on Imperial swords, p. 192. The various dedications on the blade are not exactly the same as on the variety of miniatures
The actual sword can be seen in a Solingen museum.

Perfect, thank you Wessel.

[Tiger 1]

There was a sword given to the Kaiser by the city of Solingen during his visit. I'm not sure what happened to the full size one.
Anyway, these minatures can be a collection in their own right.
Here's a few examples of some minatures.

[Tiger 1]

A couple more images...
My apologies if these are butting in on this thread.

[Tiger 1]

Last one....enjoy!

[gregM]

Thanks Tony
Do you know if the Navy sword was part of that miniature series?

[Tiger 1]

You're welcome Greg. Nice examples you show.
My take is that your Naval minature is part of a different series. There is a noticable size difference. That's what I base my comment on.
Here's a couple of pics illustrating that difference.
The first one is the smaller series.m.
The second one has the larger minature (?) laid across the others.
Tony

[gregM]

Thanks Tony,
I think my Navy sword is mostly a match for the one you posted
in the smaller series. The Calvary sword that is pictured with mine is
most likely something different as the quality is noticeably poorer.