Rare "Peterson #75" Non-Regulation Civil War Staff Officers Sword

[UnderMiner]

Rare "Peterson #75" Non-Regulation Civil War Staff Officer's Sword

A very rare United States Civil War Staff Officer's sword. Known as the Peterson #75, this sword was purchased and used only by wealthy Union officers during the American Civil War. The vast majority of Peterson #75 swords were made with steel hand guards but a select few - only 1 out of 50 - were made with brass hand guards. This is an example of one of the extra-fine brass hand guard models.

I found this sword on February 2nd 2015. It had been left outside in the snow with the trash and had I not seen it when I did this treasure would most definitely have been lost to a landfill forever. This goes to show how you just never know what you'll find next in your never ending quest for treasure. I just wish I'd found the scabbard too.

Since I last uploaded this story I've had professional conservation work preformed on this sword. One auction house assured me I can expect a minimum of $1,400 for this amazing piece. But I don't plan on selling it any time soon. I'll upload new pics in the coming days.



















Here is more info on the sword: Shiloh Civil War Relics*Catalog
Scroll to the middle of this page to see the another example of it:
Civil War Antiques (Dave Taylor's) 1st June Webcatalog

 

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[K1DDO1979]

I don't know much on swords but that is one crazy garbage find. I'm sure you'll get the answers you need on here shortly! [emoji2]

 

[19cbb]

I found this sword today. It was under a pile of garbage...

 

[Iron Patch]

You are definitely undermining this site with your great finds!

 

[parsonwalker]

What tha . . . ??!

 

[Vino]

How long do you expect ur luck to continue?

 

[Fingerlakes119]

Great find. I would not do anything to clean it it will only decrease the value. You seem to have a hot streak of great finds keep it up.

 

[JimK]

AMAZING!!!!!

JimK

 

[UnderMiner]

Someone really abused this sword. The tip is completely folded over itself, like it was dropped on its point Is there any way to fix this damage?

 

[rodarian]

That's just mind boggling. Who throws a sword in the trash? Nice save!

 

[CRUSADER]

Someone really abused this sword. The tip is completely folded over itself, like it was dropped on its point Is there any way to fix this damage?
View attachment 1114516 View attachment 1114517

its part of its history, leave it

 

[PeteWmass]

I hope you ransacked that pile well - Ive jumped in many (house clean-out...mostly) dumpsters over the years and - lets just say it often beats going to tag sales - what about the pile made you take a look to begin with ...particularly buried in snow(?) - what else was in there(?)

 

[StormSurge]

Nice sword! Man the things people put in the trash. Don't "scrape" anything. If you have a dehumidifier put the sword in a room with it and turn it on. You may even want to take a blow dryer to it while avoiding the leather wrapped handle. You want to keep the sword as dry as possible to inhibit the rust. Avoid oils from your hands making contact with it and keep it covered or encased to keep dust and other oils or dirt from making contact. Use cotton gloves or a soft cotton clothe anytime that you handle it.

 

[parsonwalker]

its part of its history, leave it

Agreed! But if you can't help yourself, have a PRO do it. Break that tip trying to straighten it, and you'll kick yourself for years. I would take some 0000 steel wool to the rusty parts of the blade only - (Never, EVER the brass or leather) and with the lightest possible touch, remove that rust. Then a little WD40 (Keep it OFF the leather) sprayed lightly on a cloth, then applied to the blade. Some will want to string me up for suggesting this, but it's what I would do.

 

[UnderMiner]

This is neat, I just cleaned the dirt from the golden seal and it's still shiny under there!

It reads "+ Proved"

 

[UnderMiner]

I hope you ransacked that pile well - Ive jumped in many (house clean-out...mostly) dumpsters over the years and - lets just say it often beats going to tag sales - what about the pile made you take a look to begin with ...particularly buried in snow(?) - what else was in there(?)

This is my favorite form of treasure hunting. Last year I found a box of silver coins that a phone company was throwing away - also a few antique phones! And I've been scoring treasure very often on my regular trips to the dump! But this sword wasn't from the dump, it was from the curb! I've only found one other sword in the garbage - it was a Knight's of Columbus dress sword - and I was so excited when I found that one! This sword though, I thought it was just another dress sword until I discovered the info about it online! This is a $1,600 sword! Maybe it even killed a few Confederates, maybe helped win the war! Who knows! My mind is completely blown today! This is something I never even dreamed of finding! They say these were produced in the 1850's and 60's and were exclusively purchased by Union staff officers. Furthermore this specific model was mainly produced with steel hand guards, only 1 in 50 were made with the brass guard like this one has! Unbelievable! I'm going to mount this on my wall! This is even better than finding a handful of gold coins in my book!

 

[Msbeepbeep]

Ok why hasn't this made banner? BANNER! BANNER! BANNER!

Congrats an awesome find deserves Banner!

 

[DFW_THer]

You need a Youtube channel. When you spot something priceless, and I know you will again, you should stop what you're doing and start recording! I would be absolutely thrilled to view some of these trash pits and flatware caches you are finding. In the very least, an in-situ pic would be awesome.

Whatever you do, I hope you keep finding such great items and posting them up.

Congrats!

 

[Tnmountains]

Always interesting when they would embellish the hilt in rapier fashion on a sabre.

 

[UnderMiner]

You need a Youtube channel. When you spot something priceless, and I know you will again, you should stop what you're doing and start recording! I would be absolutely thrilled to view some of these trash pits and flatware caches you are finding. In the very least, an in-situ pic would be awesome.

Whatever you do, I hope you keep finding such great items and posting them up.

Congrats!

Believe it or not but these last few months have really been the most productive of my treasure hunting career. It has been mostly luck, but also perseverance, and most importantly - diversity. In order to find as many treasures as me you must forget the whole notion of "everything is under the ground". If you really want to find treasure you have to get you hands filthy, I mean disgustingly filthy. Don't just metal detect and dig dirt, dig garbage, dig dumps, dig thrift stores, dig yard sales, dig banks, dig dumpsters, and dig all these things all the time every day. This perseverance and diversity is what I try to do, and this is why I find so much treasure, most of which I haven't posted.

When I see a pile of garbage or a dumpster I don't shy away like other people, I search it for treasures. Most people have no clue what treasure looks like so they sometimes never see the priceless artifact right in front of them and just chuck it out. When I dug the sword out of the garbage today I was actually on my way to a thrift shop hoping to score some loot, but the pile of garbage intrigued me because it looked to have a few nice things in it. The sword was just one of those nice things, unfortunately until today I had no idea what this sword actually was until I got it home. I touched its shark-skin grip with my filthy wet hands not knowing the damage I was doing. And that's another lesson we must all learn - if we have suspicion that something is treasure - treat it as treasure until you can prove it otherwise. I don't think I'm going to be starting a YouTube account any time soon, but I'll post some pics and stories of my past exploits in the "General Discussion" forum on T-net.