124 BULLETIN 16 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



decorated with small floral and trophy designs. The grip, which 

 is made of wood, is 4-sided. The obverse and reverse sides are 

 decorated with finely grooved diamond-shaped designs. The 

 pommel is covered with a flat helmet-shaped piece of brass decorated 

 with floral sprays. The guard consists of a flat brass strip which 

 terminates in quillons of the same type, the one above the blade 

 ending in a scroll. On each side of the blade at the quillons is a 

 coffin-shaped plate bearing an anchor. This sword was transferred 

 to the National Museum from the United States Patent Office in 1883. 



NAVAL OFFICER'S SWORD OF ABOUT 1840 



There is also in the Museum a British naval officer's sword of a 

 much later period.^^ The blade is long and heavy with a groove of 

 medium size. One side is decorated with the British arms and scroll 

 designs ; the other bears an anchor and some scrollwork. The grip, 

 which is covered with fishskin and wound with seven turns of gilt 

 wire, is surmounted by a brass strip terminating in a lion-head 

 pommel. The guard consists of a single brass strip in the rear, 

 which expands into an openwork basket-shaped counterguard, the 

 front of which is decorated with scrollwork and an oval containing 

 a crowned anchor. The scabbard is made of black leather with a 

 brass mount at each end. This sword was transferred to the 

 National Museum from the Navy Department. 



FRENCH SWORDS 



The French swords in the National Museum collection belong, 

 with two exceptions, to the period of the nineteenth century. These 

 exceptions include an artillery sword and a pioneer's sword of the 

 latter part of the eighteenth century. 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY ARTILLERY SWORD 



The artillery sword ^^ of the eighteenth century has a long, flat, 

 wide blade inscribed on each side near the hilt " Artillerie de France 

 Paris." The grip is 4-sided and is wound with wicker, brass, and 

 silver cord. The pommel is an elongated steel ball, and the guard 

 consists of a small circular steel strip terminating above the blade 

 in a quillon of the same type. A bow-shaped branch unites the 

 upper and lower quillons ; a second branch unites the quillons and the 

 pommel ; and a third branch extends from the second branch to the 

 lower portion of the guard. This sword was transferred to the 

 National Museum in 1920 from the War Department. 



=* Length, 86 cm. Blade, 72.2 cm. long, 2.3 cm. wide. PI. 34, flg. 8. 

 *» Length, 88.2 cm. Blade, 72.2 cm. long, 2.9 cm. wide. PI. 36, fig. 1. 



