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Title Royal Navy Admiral's sword
Nationality British
Period c 1865
Sold

This has the 1845 pattern Wilkinson blade, with the maker's proof stamp of Charles Webb, sword cutler of 23 Old Bond Street, West London. The retailer, engraved at the forte is Becker & Mette of Sackville Street, London, presumably a tailor. It has the oak leaf-embossed scabbard mounts, indicative of admiral's rank.

The sword itself is a standard naval pattern, carried by all commissioned ranks, but the scabbard, with the embossed oak leaf mounts, could only be worn by admirals. The drag on the chape is a rather splendid dolphin, rarely seen on these scabbards much after 1870.The sword knot is the 1891 pattern.

The blade has virtually all the original factory finish - brightwork engraving with a frosted field. The hilt and scabbard mounts retain most of their fire gilt finish.The original bullion sword knot is present, the fringe on the barrel of this being at fault. The scabbard is in reasonable shape, the seam being intact. The blade is nearly 32 inches long and just over 1 inch wide at the forte. The fishskin grip is intact, complete with its copper wire binding. There are a few spots of minor corrosion scattered on both sides of the blade.

The two photographs of the engraving on the blade show rather differently to the full-length shots, the reason for this being that I cleaned out (subsequent to the original photographs) the dried grease in the engraving, which had obscured the fine detail of the original polish. I have also subsequently polished the scabbard leather with a good black wax polish.

If you want to comment on this item—re quality, age, etc—please email me.


[Edged Weapons : Swords : British : 19th Century]

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B S, Australia, 09.02.2015

My order arrived safely yesterday morning as promised. I'm very pleased with my "new" additions!

A U, UK, 10.09.2013

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