Mark,
I think you have to quit your law practice a write a Hollywood script ( every lawyer I knew has already done both...)
Fascinating story! In this day and age it is not easy to dig that deep into your genealogy and to get an important relic to boot!
Congratulations!
And remember: thanks Heaven your ancestor was not from the South. Otherwise, a provenanced Confederate sword would have been bought in a flash by some reenactor of The War of Northern Aggression, no matter the reserve price
.