Oddly constructed cutlass

M ELEY · 12th May 2010, 03:23 AM

Thanks, Jim, for commenting on this perplexing sword. Most of the time, I can tell when I'm holding out for a positive answer on an item I "want" to be something vs one I truly feel "is" something. The whole feel of this sword, despite its awkward construction, tells me its real. You bring up the point again that this area, like Confederate weapons, espada ancha, Rev War swords, etc, gets alot into the gray zones sometimes. Many naval swords made for merchant ships and privateers were indeed limited productions, with a cutler, smith or sword maker producing limited numbers for a said ship. Likewise, just like the private purchase pikes and axes, they were often made cheap and treated badly. In retrospect, I belive Kronckew is right that the brass is a field repair, but I think one that is contemporary with the whole piece. Likewise, I still think the odd blade went with the hilt, rather similar to many of the blades on Rev War cutlass in Neumann's. Even Gilkerson mentions many thousands of different naval patterns designed by multiple makers between the times of 1801-15 whose records are lost. We just don't know what they even look like.
I had often thought this might have been patterned after the later Brit model m1845, so your mention of the similarities rings true. I agree that it might be of this later period possibly. This is a little later than my favorite area of collecting (Age of Fighting Sail), but still an interesting naval piece. I had always wondered about the lead-cutters and whether they were for cutlass drill or just exercise. Thanks all for responding on this anomaly.

12th May 2010, 03:23 AM	#11
M ELEY Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: NC, U.S.A. Posts: 2,141	Thanks, Jim, for commenting on this perplexing sword. Most of the time, I can tell when I'm holding out for a positive answer on an item I "want" to be something vs one I truly feel "is" something. The whole feel of this sword, despite its awkward construction, tells me its real. You bring up the point again that this area, like Confederate weapons, espada ancha, Rev War swords, etc, gets alot into the gray zones sometimes. Many naval swords made for merchant ships and privateers were indeed limited productions, with a cutler, smith or sword maker producing limited numbers for a said ship. Likewise, just like the private purchase pikes and axes, they were often made cheap and treated badly. In retrospect, I belive Kronckew is right that the brass is a field repair, but I think one that is contemporary with the whole piece. Likewise, I still think the odd blade went with the hilt, rather similar to many of the blades on Rev War cutlass in Neumann's. Even Gilkerson mentions many thousands of different naval patterns designed by multiple makers between the times of 1801-15 whose records are lost. We just don't know what they even look like. I had often thought this might have been patterned after the later Brit model m1845, so your mention of the similarities rings true. I agree that it might be of this later period possibly. This is a little later than my favorite area of collecting (Age of Fighting Sail), but still an interesting naval piece. I had always wondered about the lead-cutters and whether they were for cutlass drill or just exercise. Thanks all for responding on this anomaly.