92 BULLETIN 16 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



number of types of swords than was used in the case of the military 

 service. Naval swords of the latter part of the eighteenth century 

 are exceedingly rare, and the National Museum collection is lacking 

 in examples of that period. The earliest weapons of this type in 

 the national collection belong to the first part of the nineteenth 

 century. Naval swords may, like military swords, be divided into 

 two general classes: Weapons with straight or slightly curved 

 blades, and those with deeply curved blades, known as cutlasses. 

 The National Museum collection contains a number of weapons of 

 both types of exceptional historical interest. 



NAVAL SWORDS, 1800 TO 1850 



The earliest United States naval swords in the National Museum 

 collection have straight blades and are very similar in general type 

 to a British naval officer's sword to be described later that was 

 captured during the War of 1812. 



SWORDS FROM THE HOPKINS AND ELLIOTT COLLECTIONS 



An American naval officer's sword ^'^ of this type is included in the 

 Alfred F, Hopkins collection. The blade is diamond-shaped and 

 is decorated with various designs in gold and silver chasing on a 

 dark-blue background. The obverse shows a trophy of flags and 

 furled sails between floral sprays; the reverse bears an anchor and 

 a mast with furled sails between floral sprays. The grip, which is 

 made of ivory, is carved with geometrical and floral designs and 

 surmounted by a brass strip bearing an oak-leaf spray. The guard 

 and quillons are composed of a single narrow strip of brass ending 

 above the blade in a disk; on each side of the blade is a small shield 

 bearing an anchor within a laurel spray, the whole within a rope 

 cable. 



The National Museum collection includes a second naval sword °^ 

 very similar to the one just described in general design, but more typ- 

 ically American in appearance. The blade is straight with a broad 

 shallow groove extending about three-fourths its length. Each side 

 is decorated with three small floral and trophy designs. The grip 

 is ivory, the sides being decorated with diamond-shaped grooved de- 

 signs between two vertical parallel grooves; and the whole is sur- 

 mounted by a plain brass strip terminating in an eagle-head pommel. 

 The guard is a plain, flat, brass strip terminating in a quillon of the 

 same type to which is attached on both sides of the blade a small 

 shield, the one on the obverse bearing the United States arms in 

 relief. The scabbard is made of black leather with two brass mounts, 



«" Length, 79 cm. Blade, 69 cm. long, 2 cm. wide. PI. 28, fig. 1. 

 •1 Length, 92.4 cm. Blade, 80 cm. long, 2 cm. wide. 



