Description:
Officer's stirrup-hilted saber with brass hilt, ivory grip, steel blade, and undecipherable touchmark on the underside of the quillon. According to family tradition, this saber, known as the "Tory sword," belonged to Consider Arms (1736-1792) of Deerfield who served with other Deerfield men including Salah Barnard and Eliijah Sheldon at Fort William Henry in 1757, under Lord Loudon in 1758 and Capt. John Burke in 1759, and was commissioned captain by the King for his services in 1760. In 1763, he obtained 400 acres in Conway, Massachusetts, where he settled and married Mercy Catlin (1741-1822) in 1765; they had 14 children. In Conway, he was town clerk/treasurer 1767-1774; selectman 1767 and 1774; and representative to the Provincial Congress 1774, but replaced as too moderate in 1775. His continued loyalty to the King and Tory leanings resulted in his fellow townsmen confiscating his sword in the summer of 1775, which was returned to him at the end of the Revolutionary War. This episode was described in Louis H. Everts' "History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts" (Vol. II, 1879), who stated that the confiscated sword was then in the possession of Elijah Arms, Esq., of Conway. Consider Arms later became one of the Hampshire County representatives to the "Debates in the Convention of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, on the Adoption of the Federal Constition in Convention" in Boston on January 9, 1788. The grip consists of two pieces of reeded ivory; a central brass band with an oval incised medallion stamped with a variation of the Great Seal of the U.S. with clouds and stars over an eagle facing right and holding four arrows in its right talon and an olive branch in its left, and an undecipherable motto on a banner over the shield. The Great Seal of the United States, which was adopted by the Continental Congress in 1782, depicts a circular cloudband with 13 stars over an eagle with outstretched wings; red and white striped shield across the chest; banner with the motto, "E. Pluribus Unum" in the beak; and an olive branch in the right talon and 13 arrows in the left. Elements from the Seal were immediately used on coinage and business documents, which then provided design sources. The brass pommel has a pommel button top; the pommel and ferrule are decorated with short incised marks. The beaded knuckle bow has five graduated beads at the midsection; and the quillon terminates in a disc finial. The blade was probably made in Birmingham, and perhaps the entire sword. These kinds of swords were imported from England, even during the War of 1812, as they provided essential revenue for England. The mammoth ivory used for the grip was not popular in Europe, but was in the United States, and it was imported to England from Russia. These kinds of sabers were in wide use during the War of 1812.
Subjects:
Copper; Brass Link to share this object record:
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