Mace of mameluks of the guard of the consuls then of the imperial guard, fi

MACE OF MAMELUKS OF THE GUARD OF THE CONSULS THEN OF THE IMPERIAL GUARD, first production 1801-1803, Consulate - First Empire.

Handle consisting of a fluted brass socket (16 grooves) 38 cm long, diameter 2.88 cm. In the lower part this socket receives a brass heel 1.2 cm high, diameter 2.59 cm, curved shape, edged with a net and a projecting molding and finished with a brass stud pierced for the passage of the ring. In the upper part of the socket, a smooth brass ring 5 mm high, diameter 2.97 cm, joins an iron socket which serves as a support for the head of the mass, length of the iron socket 9 .5 cm, diameter 2.66 cm. Iron head made up of six metal fins, wider at the top and rounded, than at the base where they are in the shape of notches. H of the head and the fins 9.5 cm, width at the top of the fins 3.9 cm, thickness 0.34 cm; it is terminated at the top by a half-spherical iron cap 1.5 cm high, diameter 2.94 cm.

Total length of mace 60.2 cm.
Weight 891 grams
The balance point of the mass is about 0.5 cm above the brass ring making the junction between the top of the fluted socket and the base of the iron socket.

France.
Consulate - First Empire (1801-1803).
Very good condition, slight oxidation from use, the suspension ring is missing.

NOTE :
Mamluk maces, like axes, were made in very limited numbers during the Consulate and the First Empire: 101 maces (61 an X 1801-1802, 15 an XI 1802-1803 Bottet tables) and 146 copies of the ax were produced by the factory of Versailles between the year IX and the year XI. A reassortment of 25 pairs was made in 1809 at the time of the marriage with Marie-Louise de Habsbourg (Cotty table).

KNOWN EXAMPLES:
• The collections of the Musée de l'Armée in Paris have an ax and mace set, both stamped “JC” on the steel socket and numbered “1”. Consulted on the subject Michel Pétard offers us a line of thought on this pair "it would be MODELS manufactured at the time of taking office of Cazamajou and intended for the "cabinet of the models of the manufacture" as it is practiced in Klingenthal in 1788 under the ministry of Gribeauval and which remanufactured models of sabers regulated in 1767 and which were stamped by the controls in progress in 1788. The presence of the "1" struck on the ax and the mass is quite clear. made in the spirit of a "cabinet of models" (of which we have no archive but which necessarily existed!)".
• An ax and sledgehammer set from the collections of the Army Museum, exhibited at the Château de l'Emlir (Salon de Provence), former Raoul and Jean Brunon collections. We do not currently know if they are hallmarked.
• An ax and a mace from the Paul Jean collection, then from the Colonel Legouest collection (1953), sold at the Drouot auction house (Paris) when the Christian Blondieau collection was dispersed, both bear the "JC" hallmarks on the fluted brass parts.
• An ax and mace set from the former collection of Colonel Denis, sold at the Hôtel des Ventes in Saint-Etienne, are both hallmarked “JC”.
• Another set belonging to a private collection formed before 1939, does not bear any hallmark.
• The specimen presented in this file, without hallmark.

Cazamajou was a reviewer at the Manufacture de Versailles from 1803 to 1806, then from 1809 to 1811. It is likely that the unmarked specimens came from the first production of 1801-1802 before the reviewer Cazamajou took up his duties in 1803.

ETYMOLOGY AND HISTORY:
The word "weapon" is always plural, as in flail, battleaxe, etc., "weapons" denoting general military use as opposed to other civilian use.
The mace is a blunt weapon consisting of a heavy mass attached to the end of a more or less long stick. A weapon similar to the club, derived from the sledgehammer, it was one of the first weapons used by humanity.
In the Middle Ages, the improvement of armor made slashing less effective; the masses of arms then make it possible to push in and deform these protections, thus causing significant damage.