Officer's Portepees

cptbob

Well-known member
The sword knots were designed to provide information about the soldier wearing it on his sword. They could tell you if the soldier was an officer, NCO or enlisted man. Whether he was in a mounted, artillery or foot unit. What state he was from and what squadron/battery/company he was in. The enlisted and NCO sword knots were called faustriemen and the officer's were called portepees. The officer's portepees differed depending on the state the officer was from.

From left to right...Prussia, Wurttemburg, Saxony, Bavarian cavalry, Hesse, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Baden/Oldenburg and Braunschweig. Note the state colors in the center.

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Terrific. This will be a good reference.

I only have Prussian and Hessian Portepees.
 
An excellent collection of Offizier Portepee. I too love these edged weapon knots. Here are a couple of hard to find examples of the Bavarian Mourning Portepee. These black knots are shown next to an example of the standard silver/blue Bavarian Portepee.
 

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