As the first saber made after the Revolution on contract with the US government the Starr 1798 contract saber holds pride of place in any U.S. edged weapons collection. Just 2,000 were made by Nathan Starr & Co. in 1798-99 and their survival rate is low. These were made with an iron stirrup hilt in the hussar style that became popular with advent of light cavalry. The convex backstrap transitions into a pommel with flat, tear-dropped shape pommel cap. The grip is black leather and wire bound. The leather has good color and surface and is better than 90 percent with slight wear to the wood on right near the guard, on the reverse where one’s finger tips would rest in holding the saber. The twisted wire binding, as usual, is missing, but part of the last turn is still present under the pommel on the obverse. A red leather washer is present on the underside of the guard at the blade shoulder and between the base of the grip and guard.

The blade markings are correct, with “N. Starr & Co.” stamped parallel with the blade upside down on obverse near the guard and “US / 1799” across the blade on the reverse. There is a little rubbing to the last digit of the date and with a little rubbing along the top edge of maker mark on the obverse, but both are deep and fully legible. The single-edged curved blade is the standard configuration, 34 inches long, 1 ½ inches wide at the guard with 7-inch false edge at the tip and a narrow deep fuller running back from there to close to the guard. The metal is generally smooth and not pitted. The hilt shows as a mix is gray and caramel brown. The pommel is smooth, with no sign of re-peening or tightening to the blade tang. The blade is smooth metal and shows mostly as a pewter with blue tones and some thin caramel. The point is good. The last third of the blade edge shows a very narrow band that might be old sharpening or an attempt to remove some very narrow, shallow nicks to that portion of the blade, but which are not very obtrusive

This is a very good example of a rare horseman’s sword of the early Republic that is a hard-to-find, but key piece in US edged weapons, cavalry collection, or display of Nathan Starr arms. These do not come along very often.  [sr] [ph:L]

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