AMERICAN AND EUROPEAN SWORDS 125 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY PIONEER'S SWORD 



A French sword in the collection with an interesting history is 

 a pioneer's sword ^^ of the period of the Eevolution. The blade of 

 this sword is short, broad, and heavy, with a broad shallow central 

 groove on each side. Each side is elaborately decorated with scroll 

 work, and the back is indented with sawlike teeth. The grip is 

 formed of a very heavy 4:-sided brass strip and terminates in the 

 head of a cock with open bill, large comb, and gills. The quillons 

 are formed of heavy brass bars decorated in the center with a lion's 

 head and at each end with a monster's head. The scabbard is made 

 of black leather with a heavy brass mount at each end. This sword 

 was lent to the National Museum in 1911 by Mrs. Winfield Scott 

 Schley. 



EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY DRESS SWORDS 



In addition to the series of French military sAvords, the collection 

 includes also a number of small French dress swords of the early 

 part of the nineteenth century, which are remarkable for their light 

 and artistic patterns. They have straight, slender blades of two, 

 three, or four sides. The grips are 4-sided and are made of carved 

 wood or of wood faced with ivory. The guards are formed of single 

 strips of bronze, which terminate above the blade in a quillon end- 

 ing in a monster's head. To the obverse of the blade in each case is 

 attached a large shield usually of oval shape. These bear various 

 fanciful mythological or armorial designs of considerable art inter- 

 est. The Alfred F. Hopkins collection contains a number of the 

 swords of this type. 



One of the swords ^^ belonging to this series has a short blade with 

 a wide shallow groove on each side upon which appear small floral 

 and trophy designs. The grip is 4-sided and is faced with pearl 

 strips decorated with parallel, horizontal lines and terminates in a 

 brass stem decorated with floral sprays. The brass guard is deco- 

 rated in a similar manner, and the oval shield bears the figure of a 

 cock in fighting pose flanked by cornucopias. A second sword ^^ of 

 this type in the National Museum collection has a triangular blade 

 decorated in the same manner as that of the one just described. 

 The grip is also faced with strips of pearl, and the lower part of the 

 guard is decorated with floral designs. The shield bears a medallion 

 portrait of Napoleon I surmounted by a crown and surrounded by 

 trophies of war. A third ^^ has a similar triangular blade and a 

 plain pearl grip. The pommel is fashioned like a medieval helmet 



" Length, 88 cm. Blade, 69.2 cm. long, 4.6 cm. wide. 

 25 Length, 85.5 cm. Blade, 72 cm. long, 2 cm. wide. PI. 36, fig. 4. 

 =« Length, 94 cm. Blade, 81.8 cm. long, 2 cm. wide. PI. 36, flg. 6. 

 27 Length, 98 cm. Blade, 83.2 cm. long, 2 cm. wide. PI. 36, flg. 5. 



