Brass hilt with plumed helmet pommel and a vacant shield on crossed flags to the guard. Owner’s monogram to the underside of the guard. Wire wrapped leather covered grip. 30 ¾” pipe back blade decorated in two forms of etching. Gilt line etching with foliage, arms, stars and bars shield with Liberty Cap in pole. The balance with foliage and arrow cluster in raised relief on etch reduced ground. Those decorations were probably applied after specific state images or mottos were removed. The sword has clearly undergone a refurbishing including replacing the base ferrule to the grip. The shield on the guard may have had a design polished off and the blade decoration was done at two different times in two different techniques. Considering the time frame, it almost certainly was a state militia officer’s sword, refurbished for Confederate use. That suggests a militia officer in a northern state who defected to the Confederacy.
