M1840 Saber Spine Mark

[celtan]

Hi Glenn,

I was just asking _about the spine's mark_. Since you seem to be interested in the rest of the sword, here are other pictures. I hope you like them.

Since you ask, her owner was the commander of 61st Va Inf. Company A at the Battle of The Crater/Petersburg/Cold Harbor .

BTW: If by any chance, you find info on the post-war whereabouts of John W/G Wallace (from VA's Norfolk county), I'd love to hear it. He was gravely wounded on the charge. Also, I have been trying to check the 61st Va Roster, as published by Benjamin Trask, unsuccessfully. Current copies run into the $200, and I'm just not _that_ interested in that unit, only what relates to Capt. Wallace. I guess I'll wait til' I find a copy at EB.

There's a chance that a relative of Wallace, also serving in the 61st but in Company C, died in the Confederate charge.

BTW, that "blur" is quite clear to me in that it represents the edges of some stylized letters, probably K, S or G. I simply can't correlate the remaining traces to W or R. And, if someone wanted those removed, it would have been extremely easy to do so, they lie very exposed on the spine. So much so, that even I could do it.

Best/TTFN

M

Originally Posted by Hotspur

What determines this to be a confederate presentation? I am not familiar with the theme, nor have you mentioned much description of it in this thread. Etched yes, how would you better describe the blade decoration to a blind man (as I can't make much from those photos)? Is there some other provenance that goes with the blade?

As to the spine photos, I still just see a blur and actually little that resembles normal or regular wear to me. Again, what I see and I hope read to be objective, as I have no reason to declare it anything in particular. What stylized initials do you read in the marks? Again, all I see is a blurry smudged look. Could it be a WR that has been deliberately obscured or just worn down?

Cheers

GC