M1859 Stykkjunker non-com officer
A beautiful little saber with a somewhat uncertain dating and a massive translation problem in regards to who used this saber.
Norway had three now non-existing military grades Stykkjunker in the artillery, Fanejunker in the infantry and Standardjunker in the cavalry. These were “kind of” non commissioned officers. They wore an officers uniform, but no stars and new the military grades were modernized in 1927, they got the grade of captains. They were somewhere between sergeants and officers, but not really that either.
These sabers were not issued from the military and the junkers had to order their own within said specifications. As a result, they are not necessarily alike and many of they don’t really have a model year – like this one. It has the Norwegian lion from 1844 on the blade, the next lion design is from 1806. And – this type of Stykkjunker sabers started coming into use in the late 1850’s.