Confederate Naval Cutlass by Thomas, Griswold & Co
21" spear point, semi wasp-waisted blade, 26.25" overall length. 5.25" sand cast brass hilt with fish scale patterned grip without rivets and US "drooped wing" Eagle motif cast into the pommel cap on both sides. Blade secured to the hilt with a simple peen at the top of the pommel cap. Sheet brass half-basket guard with rolled edge reinforcement and separately applied brass quillon at top of guard. Blade marked on the reverse in two lines THOMAS GRISWOLD & Co in an arc over NEW-ORLEANS. This scarce Confederate naval cutlass was based upon the US Model 1841 Ames naval cutlass and was produced by the New Orleans firm of Thomas, Griswold & Co which had been the long time fancy goods & military equipment dealers Hyde & Goodrich before the war. Thomas, Griswold & Co produced a wide variety of edged weapons for the Confederate south during their short time in business from the summer of 1861 through the fall of New Orleans on May 1, 1862. Most of the edged weapons, including the naval cutlasses are marked "T.G & Co / N.O" rather than with the full name of the company and the city spelled out. These fully marked examples are quite scarce and desirable.
Condition:
Good to very good. Blade has been cleaned in the past and is now toning down to a lightly oxidized gray patina with scattered discoloration and patches of darker age toning. Blade is mostly free of pitting, with the exception of the tip which shows some light pitting. Blade also shows remnants of marks from an old sharpening and some light scuff marks from the cleaning. Hilt with a medium golden patina and showing some of the expected casting flaws typical of southern manufacture. Guard with a darker, bronze patina toning to ocher. Hilt and guard show some file and finishing marks as would be expected, and the separately applied quillon is a slightly different color than the guard, which is also typical. Blade is tightly secured to the hilt and the peen is undisturbed, but the blade does show some minor rotational movement in the hilt. The Griswold marking is mostly legible but is partly obscured due to a combination of an apparently weak die strike and possibly due to the old cleaning.
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