In 1881, the cavalry and dragoon sabers, which were carried by the officers of the lower ranks, were replaced by shashkas. A year later, according to a new edict, the officers of the Guards Cavalry Division were allowed to carry backswords and sabers as part of their peacetime parade uniforms.

The evacuation went quite orderly. By the end of the summer of 1919, some of factory’s property had been moved to its destination, Tomsk. The workers who supported Kolchak also arrived there. By the end of that year, the armory factory simultaneously produced weapons in Tomsk for the Whites and in Zlatoust for the Reds. The products differed only in the branding: the Red Army sabers were branded with the image of the hammer and sickle, the weapons for the White Army were branded with the image of a two-headed eagle without the symbols of monarchic power.

The 1881 shashka presented in the exhibition was forged at the factory in Zlatoust. It has a single edge steel blade, which is double-edged at the end. The hilt of the saber consists of a hook-shaped pommel and a guard. The handle is made of wood with slanted longitudinal grooves. The total length of the blade is about 100 centimeters.

The saber was worn in a wooden scabbard, covered in leather. Between 1891 and 1901, scabbards covered in rubber were also made for the cavalry. From 1881 to 1888, they had modified brass scabbard furniture to hold a bayonet and a triangular clamp for the cross belt. Later the scabbard attachment was replaced by two loops and the clamp — by a ring. Only the officer of dragoon regiments had such scabbards.