Although developed in 1857 as a replacement for the heavier Model 1840 saber, the Model 1860 designation of the standard Civil War Union cavalryman’s saber is hard to avoid in collector shorthand. This is a good example of that weapon, showing some use, but complete and well marked by Ames, the preeminent supplier of edged weapons to the government during the war.

This follows the standard configuration in using a brass hilt with three-branch guard, leather-wrapped grip with a slight swell in the middle and bound with twisted brass wire. The brass has a semi-dark, untouched, aged patina with some darker areas along the knucklebow and where the knucklebow and middle branch join the counterguard.  The leather has good color and a very nice finish, showing just minor wear and a small split and chip out on the underside at the top, where the knuckebow joins the pommel. The wire is tight. The leather pad is in place at on the underside of the guard.

The blade is smooth metal, showing as a silver-gray with darker gray age spots, mostly small. The tip is good. The edge shows some very shallow nicks, about four at the mid-point of the blade and another five or six just short of where the fuller tapers out toward the tip.

The scabbard is complete. Throat and carrying rings are in place. The metal shows tiny pinprick pitting, more on the obverse than the reverse, but no holes and looks rather like its from exposure with the reverse more shielded against the rider’s and horse’s sides. The surface is brown in color, slightly crusty, with some thin lighter brown showing in the recesses next to the ring bands and dusting the surface elsewhere. There are some dents on the lower portion, between the lower ring band and the drag, that could be the proverbial “rattle dents” intentionally applied to keep the saber from rattling in the scabbard- supposedly authorized in a circular, but we don’t know of anyone finding a copy and publishing it.

The markings are good, with the Ames maker’s mark on the reverse ricasso rubbed on the bottom but with the upper portion of the scroll border distinct as well as the key upper two lines, “Made by / AMES MFg  Co.” The obverse ricasso is clearly stamped, “US / G.K.C. / 1864,” making the sword eligible for use in some of the great cavalry campaigns of the war in both the eastern and western theatres. The “G.K.C.” inspector’s initials are a tad light on the right, but fully legible, and are those of George K. Charter. The brim of the pommel cap has the “G.W.C.” final inspection and acceptance mark of George W. Chapman (See Daum and Pate; Thillmann gives the name as Chapin.) Both men were armory sub-inspectors assigned to inspection duties by the Ordnance Department.

We also something that might be owner’s initials lightly scratched inside the guard near the middle side branch, but they are too indistinct to make out and may only be handling marks. The saber, in any case, was clearly issued and used, not pristine and factory new, but showing as a real veteran.  [sr] [ph:L]

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