Original British East India Company Named Pattern 1796 Naval Officer Saber by Osborn & Gunby - Circa 1810

Original Item: One-of-a-kind. This is a stunning named example of a Presentation British Pattern 1796 Light Cavalry Officer’s Saber for a Naval Colonel in the East India Company, complete with its snake skin scabbard. The saber was manufactured by one of its originators, Henry Osborn, and is clearly marked on the blade: OSBORN & GUNBYSWORD CUTLERSTO HIS MAJESTYTHE HONORABLE BOARDOF ORDNANCE& THE HONORABLE EAST INDIA COMPANYBIRMINGHAM& PALL MALL LONDON Henry Osborn was a Birmingham based manufacturer who produced a wide variety of military goods. Although best known for his swords, and the Pattern 1796 that he helped design, Osborn(e) was also listed as a Gun maker, silversmith, accouterment maker and hilt maker as well as a sword and dirk cutler. Osborn was born in 1756 and was apparently beginning to serve his apprenticeship to a master sword cutler by 1765, which he appears to have completed around 1784. In 1785, Osborn first appears in the Birmingham directories as a swo