[Lafayette C Curtis]

[Matt Easton]

Here are my spadroons:

http://www.fioredeiliberi.org/gallery2/main.p...emId=16157

http://www.fioredeiliberi.org/gallery2/main.p...temId=7274

Matt

[Glen A Cleeton]

Those are very nice spadroonage Matt. Every time I think I have seen them all, more are there to like. I keep going back to the 1796 forms and will have one at some point. There are variations of them and an entire assorment would be an intresting study. David has a great passion for the encumberances as well.

Cheers

GC

[Glen A Cleeton]

A century or so of spadroons below. I didn't think they would accumulate here as quickly but several more were looking for a happy home at budget adoption. While I had been focusing on the Oakeshott typology in the past, I had always kept in mind that the prices of originals still fell into the possibles category. What had begun as just the one slotted hilt came to include some late American patterns. The ones on the right with brass hilts are an 1864 Ames nco sword. A very short Roby militia pattern with etchings and one side of the guard cast downward to ride more easily. The musician variation next to that shorty seems a lot longer but is the (as typical) shorter of the two most commonly found U.S. patterns. That one has marks of German make and quite late in the 19th century (even possibly 20th century). At the other side, one eagle pommel joined another. Future additions of eagles are a scarce possibility for me right now but the five-ball was a real bargain and unloved at auction because of bad presentation. The link shared is a larger shot of the overall. I don't know if pic and smallpic tags work here.

Since there is a Morgan thread of spadroon appreciation, I figure these belong here.

Cheers

GC

Click here for the bigger image

I guess it's not that much bigger but I thought I had a huge one.

[M. Eversberg II]

Quite the impressive collection you have going on there. The 4th from the left and the two on the far right are my most favorite I think.

I have a question regarding the spring guards. I've never seen them up close before, so how are these deployed? When drawing do you flip them out by hand or is there some kind of push button release?

M.

[Glen A Cleeton]

Hi Michael, the two shorter ones are kind of different.

The folding guards are lifted to the upright by hand, there is no automatically deployed example I know of. Some fold flat up the other direction we generally see. Some are a simple leaf spring, others are a button or ball with a spring behind them. Some require pressing on the ball or button to release them when closing.

The one with the downturned guard was sold through Roby, of Chelmsford Massachusetts. The guard is rigid and not like the push button releases seen on some spadroons and officer swords. The only reference I have found for that 241/2" bladed type is shown in the Flayderman/Mowbray book of the Medicus Collection. It was most likely a post civl war militia item but no one else has come up with a better explanation. Roby (the man) is an interesting story in and of himself. The sword is German made and the etchings include a motif including arrows and crossed bows. A discussion elsewhere was fairly comprehensive in nature.
http://www.swordforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=96704

The one far right is an everyday 1864 Ames nco and I'll attach a couple of comparison shots.

The short one audience left is possibly an earlier hilt on an early 19th century blade quite like the Rose nco pattern. The blade is of cast steel, which differs from the Rose blades. A brief of some I have discussed elsewhere follows.

Bear with me now and I would/will be able to show anyone interested in person. It is a cast steel blade. Yes, cast steel. Now where did I read that? I know its here somewhere. Some pages into the Bezdek 1812 book, I find my way past other's possibly fulfilling the contract beside Rose. Tell me I'm wrong and dreaming. Daniel Pettibone, Ezekial Chapman and Josiah Nichols patented a cast steel process in 1802 (wait for it). Pettibone then shows the process to Nathan Starr in 1804.

Pettibone goes on from there to the Springfield armory. The experience there with Pettibone's sword development failed in inspection because of poor welding between the iron tang and steel blade. he was in Sprinfield from 1807-1811. During that stint he was also inspecting (as a fed) Rose swords.

1811 sees Daniel in Boston. Pettibone delivers cast steel cavalry swords on contract. An army agent asks in Boston preceding the 1813 cavalry contract, just what would Daniel's swords offer (ciphering loads). That conversation is a blank except no one knows if it was curved or straight, nco or cavalry and if it had one or two fullers. The U.S. Ordnance then buys the cast steel license in 1813 and then again in 1817. Pettibone produces multitudes of other items, such as his producing just about anything and the 1802 process for cast steel and joining parts goes on again. Apparently well known for pike heads.

So, that's a lot of words for me to simply say I don't know who might have been responsible for this one but the resemblance (blade wise and ball pommel) of what a good many seem to have been making beside Rose and possibly Pettibone.

So, the sword itself is quite possibly a marriage of old and new parts at that time but the overall result is quite like the Rose but diffrent in that the hilt shape and gilding points to a more senior officer piece. Let me see if the Rose article pages will attach. The hilt on mine is more of a mid 18th century look but the form persists through at least that century. The blade is pretty exacting in its dimension regarding the similarity to the Rose nco, including about six inches of sharpened back edge.. A pattern I had been watch for over a long period. Like the Rose pattern, the hilt is flat on the wear side.

What may seem real irony here is that the majority of these finds were incredibly economical. One pattern I guess I am still looking for is the Starr nco examples. there were several variations on that theme as well. Like the other early American variants, they all have quite short blades. The time period between the American Revolution and the American Civil War are my primary interests of swords and the country's growth. The eagle pommels are probably my most studied interest and focuses mostly of the early 19th century examples.

Cheers

GC

[Shahril Dzulkifli]

Above is an ivory-hilted 1786 Pattern British Infantry Officer's Spadroon. The 32.5 inch blade bears a J.J. Runkel Solingen etching on its spine (Bottom pic, the letter R is shown) and is still in good condition.