Sword Of Honor Awarded By The First Consul To Jacques Têtard (1765–1826). Consulate / First Empire

Solid silver mount. Spider-web-patterned crown. Guard consisting of two assembled parts. Flat joint from which two branches extend, connecting the openwork palmette that forms the shell. Blade plate hallmarked with the “Premier Coq,” a large guarantee mark, and a palmette-shaped tail. Wooden tang covered with silver-filigree leather. Curved blade with hollow edges and a fuller hallmarked by Mouton and Levavaddeur. It is marked on the back “Mfture du Klingenthal Coulaux Fréres entreprise.” Iron scabbard marked “The 1st Consul at Cen Tétard, Cape in the 20th Cavalry Regiment” and “M Fture à Versailles.” Two chiseled silver cuffs decorated with trophies.
France. Consulate period.

Born on May 8, 1765, in Ausey (Côte-d’Or). Enlisted in the 20th Cavalry Regiment on July 27, 1785; was promoted to brigadier on November 1, 1789, and to sergeant on May 7, 1792. From that time until Year IX, he fought in all the wars of the Revolution in the various armies of the Republic; he was promoted to sergeant major on March 16, 1793, and, following the skirmish on the 24th of that same month at Bousbruck—where he recaptured two French ammunition wagons that the enemy had abandoned—he was promoted to second lieutenant in the Guard by decree on the following April 1. He was promoted to lieutenant on the 1st of Ventôse, Year II. He was wounded by a gunshot in his left leg on the 19th of Floréal during the skirmish at Tournay. Promoted to captain on the 1st of Thermidor, Year VII, he charged the Hungarian troops at Marengo with the greatest intrepidity, putting them to full rout and taking a large number of prisoners.The First Consul awarded him a saber of honor by decree on Messidor 14, Year V, and on Pluviose 5, Year XI, upon the disbandment of the 20th Cavalry Regiment. He was transferred as a captain to the staff of the 12th Regiment of the same branch. Appointed adjutant major in the 5th Cuirassier Regiment on the 25thVentouse, Year XII, he was enrolled in the 6th Cohort of the Legion of Honor, was made an officer on the 25th of Prairial of the same year, and assumed command of a company on the 22nd of Pluviose, Year XII. He then took part in the campaigns of Years XIV, 1806, 1807, and 1808 in Austria, Prussia, Poland, and Germany with the Grand Army, and was promoted to squadron commander on May 5, 1807. He retired on July 27, 1811.