Among the best made of all the Confederate Bowies are the few known by Samuel Millwee (1833-1878) of Knoxville, Tennessee. All his knives are massive, this example is 18" overall with 13" blade being a massive .3" thick at ricasso. Like other examples Millwee's grip is 1-piece heavy German silver with inset rosewood panels with brass pins retaining them. Two examples of Millwee's knives are shown on pgs 178 and 179 of Confederate Bowie Knives by Melton, Phillips and Sexton, 2012, an additional example is shown on the cover of The 0fficial 1982 Price Guide to Collector Knives, which knife offered here appears identical. Samuel N. Millwee is listed as a carpenter in 1859 in the Knoxville directory but his skills were obviously not limited to wood as his grips emulated some of the finest early Sheffield work and his blades are excellent with saber ground beveling with 5" clip point. Millwee was 28 in 1861 when he made at least 1 of his knives. His quality is so exceptional as a cutler could he have possibly have studied under Samuel Bell who by most standards was the greatest American cutler. SIZE: PROVENANCE: Wayne McNeese Collection. CONDITION: Very good overall, blade shows old cleaning and sharpening, still retains a sharp edge. German silver handle is solid with scattered small dings, dents and bruises. Rosewood inserts and brass retaining pins are well set with hand worn patina. Accompanying scabbard which was found with this knife is a typical Confederate product made quite utilitarian of heavy leather fastened by 12 iron tacks of which 2 are now missing. Scabbard is sound and solid overall retaining knife quite nicely with crazing, cracking and scuffing. 50428-1 JS (8,000-12,000)