Any help identifying this crest? possibly german or of prussian decent?

[David Keller]

hello, i inherited this sword and i am learning more and more about it, i recently learned it was made around 1850 by a man named Ferdinand Muhm possibly for the prussian court?
i am just trying to look at the crest at the bottom of the pommel.

[KGarrad]

Welcome to RootsChat! 

You'll need an expert on German heraldry for this one - and that certainly isn't me

What I can say is that there is a quartered shield; in quarters 1 and 4 are 2 arms impaled; and there is an inescutcheon in the centre.

On top are three helms/helmets, with crests.

And that's about as far as I can go.

[chuck22]

Hi, my advice is this to me it looks like a German aristocrat family Crest. In Germany they had big families like the UK and they inherited big houses and fancy heirlooms like you have yourself .I would start with who you inherited it from and search for their surnames coat of arms. If you look either side of the blade sometimes there is a name engraved on it and that should give you your answer
Best of luck

[davecapps]

This is the Wappen (crest) of the Familie (family) Redern.

They orig. came from upper Silesia and Austria.

Dave

[KGarrad]

Would appear to be a mirror image?

Quarters 1 and 4 now appear at 2 & 3.
Flags on the crests on original post flew to the left, on the new image fly to the right.

The bend (diagonal bar) on the inescutcheon (small shield in the middle) is now reversed, too.

A bend is normally drawn from top left to bottom right.
In your latest picture, it is a bend sinister?!

[davecapps]

Here's a goblet with the Redern crest

[KGarrad]

I didn't hazard a guess at which was the mirror-image?!

And German heraldry used the bend sinister far more often then in England & Wales.

[rvchrr]

Given the crest is in relief and apparently reversed the obvious thought that came to me was that it was meant to double for use as a seal.

[HughC]

It's a coat of arms, or achievement as I think it's officially known.

The crests [crest = Helmzier or Helmschmuck in German] are just the bits at the top: the flag-waver and the other thingies issuing from coronets.