December 15, 2020 Edged Weapons, Armor & Militaria
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 12/15/2020
An important and fine presentation-grade Model 1850 Staff and Field Officer’s sword, 38 1/8 inches long overall, with slightly curved, wide-fullered blade 32 inches long by 1 inch wide at ricasso; the bright-finished blade bearing 'IRON PROOF" on its spine near hilt and decorated with frosted and etched motifs and inscriptions for two-thirds of its length: on the obverse face, beginning at ricasso; the retailer's name, "G. W. Simond / & Bro:/ Manufrs./ Philadelphia / Penn:", followed by a scene of a telegraph station emanating rays or lightning bolts and inscribed with the following verse: "With lightning strides / Which thought alone can trace, / Annihilates in turn, / Both time, and space.", followed by an etched view of Capitol Hill, "E Pluribus Unum" in scroll over a Federal eagle, followed by military panoplies and the patriotic motto "Our Glorious / Union / Forever" in a scroll. The reverse or left face of the blade with a panoply of arms near ricasso, a panel with "E. S. SANFORD" flanked by lightning bolts, a 'US" within laurel sprays, followed by "LIBERTY OR DEATH" within a scroll and surmounted by floral motifs and spearpoint. The gilded-brass hilt decorated with floral motifs on guard, pommel and backstrap and the quillon in form of an eaglehead with small rubies set in the eyes and the grip wrapped with alternating gold and silver banding. The blued, steel scabbard with three gilded-brass mounts with scalloped ends and floral decorations, consisting of throat, middle-band, and chape with drag; with a presentation plaque affixed to the obverse or right side of scabbard between throat and middle-band, upon which is engraved, “Presented to Col. E. S. Sanford Military Supervisor / of the Telegraph by many Friends as a / Testimonial to his Courtesy and Impartiality / Zeal and Fidelity / May 1862.” The sword is housed in its original, wooden case (which is covered in black leather and lined with blue velvet), along with Sanford's crimson, silk sprangwork officer's sash (knot missing) and gold bullion sword knot. Edward Sewall Sanford (1817-1882) was president of the American Telegraph Company at the start of the Civil War and realizing that there were no appropriations for a Federal telegraph service, took it upon himself to extend the Company's wires "to the War Department, Navy Yard, Arsenal, Chain-Bridge and other outlying points" in the District of Columbia "and for six months or more...paid all the bills, aggregating thousands of dollars, for poles, wires, instruments, salaries of operators, etc." which were eventually repaid by an act of Congress. His expertise in telegraph communications was subsequently called upon by President Abraham Lincoln, who in an Executive Order dated 24 February 1862, placed all telegraphic lines in the United States under military control and named Sanford "military supervisor of telegraphic messages throughout the United States." Commissioned a colonel of US Volunteers, he served as Military Supervisor of Telegraphic Messages for the War Department and as such, also had oversight of censorship for all telegraphic transmissions in the nation. He served in this capacity through the entire war, being brevetted Brigadier General, US Volunteers on March 13, 1865 for "meritorious services". CONDITION: the sword and scabbard in near-mint condition, with 99% of original gilding intact on mounts, the blade with original, unmarred bright finish, sword knot in very good condition, the sash missing its turks-head knot. JLK
Item Dimensions: box: 41" x 6" x 3".