Civil War Auction
Lot 90:
This is a wonderful presentation sword from Geneseo, Illinois and was presented to Union 1st Lt. Ranson Harrington and is engraved on the front of the brass pummel. It reads “Presented to 1st Leut. R. Harrington Co. B 9th Regt. Cavalry by the citizens of Geneseo, ILL. December 20th 1861. Harrington enlisted Sept. 23, 1861 and was promoted all the way to Captain on Jan 16,th 1863 and resigned his commission on April 9th 1863. The sword is a M1860 Cavalry sword and has no maker’s mark at all. It is 42.5″ overall with 35” blade. It is double etched with early flowal “e pluribus unum” shield and panel design. The panel has with “USC” etched in it. The blade show wear, very old cleaning and use. The blade has no pitting or rust and has some dark spots to blade. It has no chips or nicks and has been very carefully sharpened and is quite sharp. Tip looks to have a .5 of a millimeter off the tip or it may have been produced that way. Collector reports opinion that this sword saw hard combat use. The brass hand guard has a floral design and ray skin and wire wrapped handle has most of the wire loose but still warped. Leather crossguard leather washer is present and crossguard has some looseness overtime. The scabbard has brass hanger rings and shows wear down to bare steel. The scabbard drag (tip) is fitted with brass cap that has some “fancy” styling. Scabbard has just a couple of minor dings and has no rust or pitting. This is a really great sword from the era and the research on Harrington is all over the internet. This was one of the center pieces of this entire collection.
Share this lot:
