An American War of 1812 era cutlass

[M ELEY]

I am willing to accept the possibility that the grip on this cutlass might be a replacement, but I am still of the opinion that it is contemporary with it and a replacement in its working life, not a modern fashioning. I base this on two points. First off, the pics don't show the rich patina to the wood, even to the inner split in the piece and to where part of the grip has chipped away. Two, it would have been nearly impossible to fit a tool handle on this piece in modern times without taking apart the hilt, which appears undisturbed. The knucklebow has undisturbed black lacquer, the fuller fully accepts the grip (the wood isn't cut off, but ftis into it) is intact, etc.

Finally, I have included some hilts on cutlasses of the period. You will note that many of the grips are plain, crude iron and/or wood, of varying shapes (including a 'tool handle' appearance, which seems to have become popular in the Federalist period), often turned on a lathe. One has to accept that private purchase is the key word here. If you are looking for nice, cast iron ribbed grips or fine swelled wooden grips, you are forgetting that these swords were purely utilitarian, not inspected by any government body or legislature and made during the period of war when the lowest bidder got the job of making mass quantities of the crude beasts (I love them anyway! )