Adopted by the army in 1832, in the U.S. Army this gladius-pattern short sword was intended for sergeants, musicians, and artillerymen serving on foot until the introduction of the 1840 pattern swords, after which it was limited to the foot artillery, though they sometimes found themselves serving as infantry. In the militia the pattern had much broader use as a side-arm and even found its way into uniformed fraternal organizations. Ames found it a popular seller, keeping it in production for roughly thirty years. In the lead up to the Civil War some were to be found in Bloody Kansas. During the war others were pressed into service as naval cutlasses also.

This one is dated 1841 and is likely one of 1,500 made on a March 11, 1841 contract that were delivered by August. According to Thillmann only 841 of those were issued to the states, making this a good candidate for U.S. regular army use, though it has a good pre-Mexican War date in any case. It is the standard configuration with brass hilt having a feathered grip and eagle cast into the front and back of the pommel. The hilt has a nice medium tone with some age stains and minor handling marks, but he eagles on the pommel are not rubbed out by handling and still have good detail. The underside of the crossguard bears MPL./ ORD. inspection marks on one end and W.S. on the other. The W.S. is repeated on one side of the blade near the guard, under UNITED / STATES / 1841, the other side of the blade bearing the Ames eagle over “N.P. AMES / SPRINGFIELD. The blade is largely a dull silver in tone with darker gray age spots and some shallow pitting, but with good edges and point. The markings are fully legible.

This comes with its original black leather scabbard. The color and surface are good and the seam is tight. The brass throat is in place, but the drag is missing. The leather at the tip shows finish loss, but there seems to be enough to secure a replacement tip if one becomes available. It displays well regardless and is a key sword in a collection of U.S. edged weapons. [sr][PH:L]

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