3314 FEDERAL PERIOD AMERICAN HIGH GRADE MOUNTED

Category Firearms & Military
Auction Currency USD
Start Price 2,000.00 USD
Estimated at 4,000.00 - 6,000.00 USD
OFFICER’S SABER BY WELLES OF BOSTON. Overall length: 41”. Blade length: 36”. This General Officer’s grade saber has an exceptionally heavily decorated blade with a single wide fuller. The blade boasts brilliant gold highlighted etching on a blued field. A nearly 14” panel is adorned with 14 crescent moons on each side. The first 5” of the blade shows foliate decorations with a heavy gilded finish. Near the hilt is an arched mark that reads “ALFRED & GEO. WELLES BOSTON”. The opposite side has a small panel that reads “WARRANTED”. Heavily gilded brass hilt with an intricately decorated acanthus leaf languet on each side. Unadorned guard with a drop quillon that is engraved with a flower on both sides. Reverse P-style knuckle bow has a slot near the top for a knot. Bird’s head style pommel with very heavy acanthus leaf decoration over the entire pommel and down the length of the backstrap to the linearly decorated ferrule. Certifiably antique ivory grip with horizontal lines and crosshatched body. Brass scabbard with a remarkably heavy gilded finish. The scabbard is etched, quite artfully, with elaborate foliate motifs around the top and center suspension ring, as well as near the tip/drag. It is interesting to note that Alfred Welles, a principal in the firm of A & G Welles, was a General in the war of 1812. It is not difficult to imagine this beautiful expression of the sword cutler’s art being carried into service by General Alfred Welles himself. CONDITION: blade shows original factory polish with only the lightest wear to the gold & blue decoration, likely caused by the scabbard. The hilt is solid with nearly all of its original gilded finish intact. The grip has a few minute chips just under the pommel. The scabbard retains over 90% of its original gilded finish, and there is no damage or dents noted throughout its entire length. (02-20963/BF). $4,000-6,000.