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CA 1840 U.S. MILITIA OFFICER’S INDIAN PRINCESS POMMEL SWORD BY HORSTMANN AND SONS, PHILADELPHIA

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The Indian Princess figural pommel was popular US sword motif between 1821 and 1850 by most dating. This one is nicely marked on the scabbard by Horstmann and Sons of Philadelphia and likely dates to the early 1840s. The motif was a popular personification of America in the first half of the nineteenth century, combining Columbia, Lady Liberty, and a somewhat fanciful portrait of a Native American woman with feather crown as a symbol of the new world and young America. The example has sword has a gilt brass hilt and scabbard, leading to a categorization by some early authors as an artillery officer’s sword on the basis of gold as the artillery branch of service color, but this is rather too narrow a classification since militia units and officers had a wide latitude in selecting uniforms, arms, etc., and even a regular army officer might wear a non-regulation sword in some contexts.

The pommel is in the form of a portrait bust with a flower/sun rosette on the chest. The grip is reeded white bone, now a mix of cream and light brown, with a wide ferrule at the guard. There is no counterguard. The knucklebow is in the form of a recurved bow with overlapping leaves leading to a classical rosette on either side of a ribbed grip. The quillon has disk with spiral and curves forward. There is no counterguard, but there are shield shaped langets with cast and chased curving floral motifs on a checkered ground.

These motifs carry over onto the obverse of the gilt brass scabbard. This is fitted with a spade shaped frog button, with raised floral motifs, and has split carrying rings. The edges are given a border of small semi-circles or checks. The throat is engraved with rolling leaves and a geometric band above the frog button for the top carrying ring, another geometric band and scrolling leaves at the lower ring, and longer panel of rolling leafy vine extending down to just above the scabbard tip. The reverse of the scabbard is plain but with “404” stamped at the top, likely a company model or inventory number and “HORSTMANN  / & / SONS / MAKERS / PHILADA.”in raised letters on an applied scroll.

The blade is straight, single edged with spearpoint, spadroon in form, and is blue and gilt, with the blue ending in flame-like floral tendrils and the gilt portions highlighting on each side three short etched motifs, with a central mixed military and floral motif flanked purely floral elements above and below, the first extending from underneath the langet on either  side. We see no blade maker marks.

The condition is very good. The hilt is aged brass tone. The scabbard shows bright. Carrying rings and button are in place. The scabbard is not dented or dinged. The bone grip shows age staining but well-defined reeding and no cracks or big chips, just some very slight small ones near the ferrule. The blue panels on the blade extend about half its length, show some rubbing, but the blue and gilt are strong. The lower portion of the blade is a medium steel gray with some darker gray spots and a small section of dark gray freckling on one edge near the tip.

This is a very good example of a interesting sword pattern showing a mix of  Classical and American motifs.  [sr][ph:L]

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