Manufactured: VA

Maker: VA Arsenal

Year: 1806 - 1808

Model: 2nd Model VA Manufactory

Size: 40.5"

Condition: VG

2nd Model Virginia Manufactory Cavalry Saber.  Rare saber in full length.  Steel hilt has no isues.  Grip has 50% leather, chip at pommel, wire is missing. Blade is full length and is bright with some staining but overall is in much better condition than normally seen. Spine of blade is stamped “4th Va. Regmt.”, most likely a militia regiment of the period. Iron scabbard is excellent with frog stud, original paint and no dents.

The Virginia Manufactory of Arms was established by the General Assembly in 1798.  Its history and output have been chronicled by Giles Cromwell in his comprehensive The Virginia Manufactory of Arms published in 1975 from which the majority of information in this commentary has been gleaned. The Manufactory’s founding was intended to secure a steady, reliable supply of arms of quality for the Virginia Militia, to reduce the State’s reliance on Federal contracting and to stimulate local industry.  It  was situated on the west end of Richmond immediately beyond the city limits on the south side of the James River Canal and would eventually consist of a significant concentration industrial buildings and specialized machinery. The Manufactory produced muskets, bayonets, rifles, swords, pistols, cannon and the accouterments necessary for these weapons.

First and Second Model Swords were not poplar with Virginia militiamen due to their great length.  With a strongly curved blade (resembling “Turkish Scimeters”) they  were not easy to handle and were replaced in 1808 by the Third Model which featured a relatively straight blade of only 36” in length.  This newer, shorter sword “met with instant approval by members of the various cavalry troops” and the armory received numerous letters requesting exchange of the older swords for the new ones.  Adding to the rarity of intact First and Second Model Swords is the fact that many were modified shortly after their manufacture by order of the State or at the outbreak of the Civil War in the push to arm the Confederacy.

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