November 17, 2020 Early Arms & Militaria: Age of Exploration, Empire & Revolution
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 11/17/2020
A United States Navy commissioned officer's sword made to the specifications of the 1 May, 1830 General Order governing Navy uniforms and its accompanying pattern drawings. This sword conforms to both description and drawings, blades being "cut and thrust...not exceeding 30, nor less than 26 inches in length...the grips of those for...commissioned officers and Midshipmen, to be white" and the hilts to be "yellow mounted, and with eagle heads." The pipe-back blade appears to have been shortened from one of the longer form specified above and is now 26-3/8" in length, its width being 1-1/4"--nearly the maximum "breadth" of "one and three-tenths inches" as prescribed for the longer blades, rather than 2/3rds of an inch breadth prescribed for the 26" blade. It is blued with gilded, etched devices running up the blade from the hilt in this order: a fouled anchor, a wreath of 13 stars, and a spray of oak leaves and acorns. The gilded brass hilt consists of a feathered backstrap terminating in a large eagle-head pommel, with a reverse-P guard, a downward-facing, side-guard (essentially an enlarged oval-shaped, half-langet) with raised rim is on the obverse of the hilt, with crossed sprays of oak leaves and acorns in high relief centered upon it; on the reverse of the guard is a smaller half-sideguard. JLK
Item Dimensions: 32"