Attic Find - Old Sword possibly from Revolutionary War

[creighton359]

Hello everyone, my name is Cindy and I am from Nova Scotia, Canada. I found your forum by doing research on an old sword that I have. I love everything old and am fascinated with history. My house is even old - built in the 1890's in an old mining town. I've been collecting things for years but am just an amateur and I find it fun to research things I have found. I have a bunch of items that are attic finds. My stepbrother inherited a house from his grandparents and had to have it cleared out to resell it so we helped clean out the attic and he let us keep most of what we found up there. This old sword is one of them. I posted it on a sword collectors forum a few years ago and didn't get much feedback on it. One guy was pretty sure it was from the Revolutionary War. Here are the pics, let me know what you think:



Cheers!
Cindy

 

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[Argentium]

Wow ! That's a nice relic ,I have no idea of it's age but clearly it's rather old . I'm curious to know what other goodies you found in the attic ?

 

[creighton359]

The other stuff that was in there was a smaller dagger in a leather sheath, amazing original photographs from both world war eras, which I have scanned and put on disks for the family as the people in those photos would be their descendants. I also found an old crockery ginger beer bottle from Halifax, WWII child's gas mask, an old Christie Brown & Co. cookie tin in the shape of a old delivery truck, lots of toys from the 60's and 70's, musical instruments like a snare drum, tambourine four harmonicas and an old german-made accordian. There were also two saxophones (engraved date - early 1920's), a clarinet, trumpet and some others I'm probably forgetting. My stepbrother kept the horn instruments and I took the rest. There is also an old leather-covered steamer trunk with an arched top, and a very old violin in a case I've unofficially dated to the late 1800's. Oh and the little wooden wagon you can see a little bit of in the pics I posted as I set the sword on top of it to take the pics. It looks very old too. Another cool find was a German Mauser handgun. It was in a leather holster, inside of a wooden holster. There was a note with it, from my stepbrother's great-grandfather that it was a battlefield souvenir. My step-brother has that and was planning to donate it to a museum. I also grabbed a bunch of old cane fly rods and reels. One is an old wooden reel probably from the turn of the century. My husband and I fly fish for Atlantic Salmon so those were a nice find.

 

[Argentium]

Attics like that are a dream come true - sounds like you hit the jackpot !

 

[Duckshot]

Sounds like you found a bunch of WWII stuff with the sword.

Are there any hallmarks on it? If you use a little 3 in 1 oil the stamp or engraving might be easier to see. Don't clean anything.

 

[creighton359]

Yes it was awesome rummaging through all the stuff in that attic. I've been collecting things for years from garage sales, estate auctions, etc. and some are family heirlooms. But the problem is I keep everything...lol I love looking at these things and showing them to friends or family who visit and tell them the stories (if I know them) or provenance of an item. So I'm not a buyer-reseller. I'm a buyer-keeper. lol When my husband and I get old and it's time to downsize, we'll probably sell a lot of these things to fund our retirement. We've got 15-20 years to think about that though.

 

[creighton359]

Sounds like you found a bunch of WWII stuff with the sword.

Are there any hallmarks on it? If you use a little 3 in 1 oil the stamp or engraving might be easier to see. Don't clean anything.

There is not a single mark of any type on that sword...I've searched every inch of it with a magnifying glass. I will not attempt to clean it either - I'd rather it remain in the state that I found it. The next time I go to Halifax I may see if the museum will take a look at it for me. I don't go there very often though.

 

[gunsil]

The sword does not appear to be a rev war era sword to me, at least not a British or American one.

 

[uglymailman]

Can't help on the I.D. of the sword. You might have your stepbrother check on that Mauser pistol. From your description it sounds like a "Broomhandle" pistol with the wooden holster/stock. Pretty rare and if in good condition worth several thousand dollars. If the carbine model in top condition it's worth upward of 20,000 bucks. Good finds and good luck.

 

[creighton359]

The sword does not appear to be a rev war era sword to me, at least not a British or American one.

Thanks for the reply - I'll keep searching!

Can't help on the I.D. of the sword. You might have your stepbrother check on that Mauser pistol. From your description it sounds like a "Broomhandle" pistol with the wooden holster/stock. Pretty rare and if in good condition worth several thousand dollars. If the carbine model in top condition it's worth upward of 20,000 bucks. Good finds and good luck.

I think my mom had it appraised for around $5,000. Knowing this, my step-brother was still going to donate it to a museum. He doesn't need the money. Here is a pic of the gun while mom still had it (and she may still have it - I'm not sure if my step-brother ever came and got it):

 

[AlienLifeForm]

Id have a heart attack if I found that pistol. With stock, holster and accessories to boot.

 

[DirtDiggerDaveinMD]

No way should that Mauser end up in a museum.

 

[creighton359]

No way should that Mauser end up in a museum.

I must call my mother today and find out where it ended up. I'll report back when I find out.

 

[Old Bookaroo]

creighton359:

Here's a website that might help you:

Old Swords / Antique Sword Identification and Research

Nice finds there!

Good luck to all,

The Old Bookaroo, CM

 

[Chadeaux]

creighton359:

Here's a website that might help you:

Old Swords / Antique Sword Identification and Research

Nice finds there!

Good luck to all,

The Old Bookaroo, CM

$10.00 just to look at pictures of swords? Thanks, but I'll pass. Good idea though. Maybe we should charge to see pics of our finds?

I mean, if you actually got something tangible (book, etc.) might be worth even more but until I know someone knows what they're doing, I'll keep my $10 for batteries and snickers bars.