Antique French Sabre with a Smallsword style Blade

This "fantasie" antique example of the French 1882 style Infantry Officers sword has an unusual, non-regulation blade. It is hollow ground triangular in cross-section, and is known as a Préval blade, named after General Claude Antoine de Préval, who trialed a similar style of blade in the 1830s as he believed it made sense from a cavalry perspective, being light, strong and very stiff. The guard is also non-regulation. It is made of steel, instead of the standard German Silver (a white bronze alloy). It also has reinforcing ribs, unlike the regulation variant. It also has 1 extra outer sidebar and two inner bars. It is marked Coulaux & cie, Klingenthal. This style of Saumur hilt, combined with various unique blades, were often used by Zouave and Chasseur d' Afrique regiments from around 1855 onwards, and formed the basis on which the 1882 hilt was eventually built.