Argintine presidential guard 1904

This is from Ceremonial Uniforms of the world by Jack Cassin-Scott & John Fabb.
Presidential Bodyguard formed around 1904 from cuirassier regiment that accompanied General Roca, later President Roca, on his campaing against the Indians of Rio Negro. The uniform at that time had a very French appearance.
Rank for officers;
Ensign - one row of gold cord,
2nd Lt - one gold cord below one silver,
Lt - two gold cords,
Capt - three gold cords,
Maj - four gold cords
Lt Col - five gold cords.
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Very French indeed wfrad. The French cuirassiers rode to war in August 1914 in almost identical uniforms except that they lowered their visibility slightly by wearing brown or grey covers over the glittering helmets and breastplates.

One pedantic little quibble though. I wonder if Cassin-Scott got it right showing the tunics as dark blue. Years ago I photocopied (in black and white) colour plates from an old Argentinian book "Uniformes Militares" held in the Library of Congress. The plates covering the period up to 1911 showed infantry, cavalry, artillery, engineers and Presidential Guards all in tunics or braided dolmans which my margin notes describe as medium blue. The Spanish language text of the book describes the colour as blue-grey (azul-gris). A plate (which I did copy in colour) from a near contemporary Spanish encyclopaedia shows nearly all Argentinian dress tunics of this period as near black. Richard Knotel talks of "turquoise-blue". Not an issue to keep anyone awake at nights but does anyone know just what the colour was?

byistR, I also wonder if Cassin-Scot got it right.
The problem with colour is one man's field grey is another's blue grey.
Also when the contemporary writer writes about a type in uniform of French style and colour, what colour. The French of the period had a number of shades to choose from.
The cynic in me sometimes thinks that the artist doing the painting mixed the wrong colour, didn't want to waste it [paint costs money] and thought bugger it, who cares and nobody will know.
I suppose when if comes down to it, our only hope is the odd survivor in someone's collection.
You make a very good point though.