126 BULLETIN 16 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



surmounted by a plume. The shield bears a spirited scene in relief 

 showing a classical combat. A fourth sword -^ in this series has a 

 diamond-shaped blade decorated in the usual manner. The grip 

 is made of hardwood carved with fine diamond-shaped designs, and 

 the pommel is button-shaped. The guard is formed of a flat brass 

 strip, the upper part of which is corrugated. The shield bears a 

 large trophy of arms including a coat of mail, flags, and weapons. 



The National Museum collection includes three French dress 

 swords with pommels formed in the shape of eagle's heads. The 

 ivory strips are lacking from the sides of the grips of two of them. 

 The shield attached to the blade of one -^ is irregular in shape and 

 bears a curious design representing a trophy of arms superimposed 

 upon an eagle. The shield on the second ^° bears a classical design 

 representing Mars seated among a group of flags and other trophies. 

 The third sword ^^ is much better preserved than the other two. The 

 blade bears a wide shallow groove on each side and is decorated with 

 small floral and trophy designs. The grip is 4-sided and is faced 

 with strips of ivory decorated with five parallel horizontal grooves. 

 The obverse of the lower part of the guard is decorated in the center 

 with a liberty cap within an oval. The quillon terminates above the 

 blade in a monster's head. A large brass shield attached to the ob- 

 verse of the blade bears a classical design representing three Roman 

 soldiers receiving arms from Vulcan seated at his forge. The three 

 swords just described all belong to the Alfred F. Hopkins collection. 



SWORD OWNED BY MAJ. GEN. ALEXANDER MACOMB 



The most important personal sword of this type in the Museum 

 collection is one owned during the early part of the nineteenth cen- 

 tury by Maj. Gen. Alexander Macomb, United States Army, who 

 was general in chief of the United States Army, 1828-1841. This 

 sword ^^ has a long, slender, straight blade with a wide central 

 groove. Both the obverse and reverse sides are decorated near the 

 hilt with four small trophy and floral designs. The grip is 4-sided ; 

 the top and bottom are covered with gilt strips decorated with 

 daisies; the sides are covered with strips of boxwood divided into 

 small diamond-shaped designs by diagonal grooves. The pommel 

 is made of brass and is button-shaped, the end being decorated with 

 a floral design and the side enciixiled by a laurel wreath, with a 

 square stem extending dow^l over the end of the grip. This stem 

 is decorated on the obverse with the head of a man and on the re- 



"^ Length, 97 cm. Blade, S3 cm. long, 2 cm. wide. 



2» Length, 90.5 cm. Blade, 78.1 cm. long, 2.3 cm. wide. 



^^ Length, 94.5 cm. Blade, 82.5 cm. long, 2 cm. wide. 



^^ Length, 94.5 cm. Blade, 81.5 cm. long, 2 cm. wide. 



^ Length, 95 cm. Blade, 81.5 cm. long, 2 cm. wide. PI. 36, fig. 7. 



