BRITISH VICTORIAN KING'S BRITISH GERMAN LEGION SABRETACHE.

An extremely scarce piece of uniform accoutrement being the undress sabretache for an officer in the British German Legion being of the same size as the post 1856 British sabretache. To the exterior edge two wavy lines of bullion wire in the same manner as standard German officers sabretaches. To the centre a very finely struck gilt Victorian Crown with Victorian VR cipher below and the base of the sabretache the cipher in scrollwork, which reads 'LIGHT CAVALRY BRITISH GERMAN LEGION'. Complete with its rare message pouch as well as the three suspension rings. When the Crimean War broke out, a force Italian, Swiss and German soldiers were raised to assist in the war against Russia, the Commanding Officer was Major General Richard Charles Von Stutterheim and in 1856 members of the Legion were billeted in the Colchester garrison in England, the force was disbanded near the end of 1856 after the war had ended. The majority of the members of the Legion were resettled in South Africa in around King Williamstown including the town of Stutterheim. There was 441 German officers in the Legion, therefore this sabretache is one of possibly only approximately 400 ever produced.

Code: 74579