[Tim May]

About a year ago, I found a sword in an antique store in Baltimore. I believe this is a 1902 pattern dress sword, but I'm not sure as to the maker (there is no mark on the reverse of the "proved" star), or anything really about the sword other than what I just mentioned, such as approximate worth or even from which branch of the military this is (though I'm guessing it's an Army sword).

Any thoughts on it would be incredibly helpful!
Thanks in advance.

[Corey Skriletz]

My Brother's King George V sword has that "proved" mark in the six-pointed star stamped on it, so maybe it's a British sword. I am, by no means, an expert on the matter, though.

[Glen A Cleeton]

While usually associated with U.S.Army infantry officers, cavalry officers also sometimes carried them . This is the m1902 Sword For All Officers. Modern Airborne Cavalry officers have also adopted them to go along with their spurs as optional.

The six pointed star starts to show up as a token of Damasacus quality and iirc first adopted by Wilkinson then being used by others.

The model is still currently produced and has served for academies, ROTC, many organizations. These are a fun way to get into the antique market and quite inexpensively with good swords with scabbards often as low as $100 or less on Ebay. I actually overpaid at $90 for a sword with no scabbard. Some had iron grips, others horn but past the WWI period, the newer ones are generally bakelite or plastic grips. I have some shots of my Colonial brand (Ames? Liley?) disassembled that may be fun to see. The metal hilt bit are all white brass and cleaned up to shiny. The grip on this one plastic. Some of the blades range out to 31" or more but this one is short at 28"29" and probably targeted as budget for academy use.

There is a following for these and the Philippine constabulary variants with wire grips at the high price spread end. There are several collectors that could fill books with their research of them.

Cheers

GC