The brass hilt and overall design are certainly characteristic of the latter half of the Nineteenth century which would indeed make it an Imperial piece.
The hilt/crossguard design is very similiar to Prussian sidearms of the period.
The maker as I'm sure you know is Weyersberg Kirschbaum.
I would think that the other marking is possibly a retailer.
If there aren't any military acceptance marks (which I can't see in the photos) then this could well be a private purchase sidearm.
The etch is a nice military motif & typical of Imperial WK&C production. Many of these are lightly applied, I've got several WK&C/WKC fire official daggers with this same shallow etch type. It almost looks to me like a Polizei short sword, maybe Schupo will chime to let us know for sure.
Probably not a police sidearm and Billy is right that some Feuerwehr units did wear this Seitengewehr during Imperial times but I would expect an etch with a FW motif such as ladders and hoses. I think it more likely that this is a private purchase example of the issue sidearm that Rajko shows above. There are several generic variations of this sidearm, one being the 1838 Infantry Seitengewehr or Faschinenmesser. These sidearms continued to be worn for walking out dress long after they were no longer items of issue.
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