Boarding cutlass on eBay

[kronckew]

Originally Posted by M ELEY

...might have sat in a place of honor on some Englishman's mantle.

...or a place of honour in a Pub! we had a pub not too far away where the publican was a veteran, he had the wall behind the bar decorated with his sword and a couple of khukuris and a few other sharp pointy things he'd picked up here and there...

that cutlass would have looked mighty fine amidst the paintings of british warships and other nautical memorabilia decorating the 'Jolly Tar', another pub in a nearby village, sadly no sharp pointy things in that pub.

...and finally, just a slight trip aside into how the cutlass was normally stored aboard ship. (HMS Warrior - 1860)

cutlass racks in the more senior areas.


overhead racks in the crews quarters above the muzzle loading cannon.


cutlass racks in context: Gun Deck.

note racks overhead upper right in photo

boarding pike racks, just for the heck of it.


pike, use of:


and for the officers: (you can just make out the cutlass racks on the right background)

a few zillion dollars worth of navy colts.

[laEspadaAncha]

I know there are some swords that receive later embellishments to with the intent to deceive and in an attempt to increase their value (CSA weaponry comes to mind). While my exposure pales in comparison to your own (that's a collective "your," BTW ), in my own humble opinion, the letters in the etching seem just too perfect... too uniform, without any visible regularity or variability.

[M ELEY]

Wow, thanks for those pics of the ship, my friend. Always nice to see the actual storage/racking of these boarding items. Very cool!

laEspada, my point exactly. Too bad that this blade isn't the real thing, but a later embellishment or, as you say, a down-right fake. Too hard to say without actually handling the blade, though...

[kronckew]

Originally Posted by M ELEY

Wow, thanks for those pics of the ship, my friend. Always nice to see the actual storage/racking of these boarding items. Very cool!
...

you're welcome.

if any of y'all ever get to the UK, a day at the Historic Dockyard in portsmouth is well worth it (it's NOT free, see linky), there is the HMS Warrior, and HMS Victory as well as the Mary Rose, and a lot more, quite a few sharp pointy things if you keep your eyes open. the harbour tour is also worthwhile, you get to see not only the royal navy ships that are docked, but the old victorian forts and even a quite intact roman fort on your trip around the harbour. couple hours by train from london...

[M ELEY]

Sounds like an invite to me! If I ever get a chance to make it over the pond, I will most certainly visit the dockyard, along with the Tower, castles in Scotland, and my grandfather's old homestead in Redruth, Cornwall. Ahhh, one of these days!