This is an original Civil War era short pattern artillery sword. These were patterned after the Roman gladiator swords with the fierce look like you see in the movies. The blade is full-length with the maker's mark of the Ames Manufacturing Company of Springfield, Massachusetts on the back of the blade. It has the large straight line stamping with the eagle that is from their earlier production years when they were in Springfield. These were made by Ames from 1832 until 1862. The front of the blade has the "U S" stamp with the production date of "1839". The Ames book states that they only delivered 1,000 of these swords in 1843. It has the Ordnance Department inspector initials of "WS" that stands for William Smith. The handle is made of cast brass and has the fish scale design with the droop wing eagle at the top of the pommel. On the underside of the crossguard it has the inspector initials of "M.P.L." stamped into the brass. This is the initials of the inspector Mann Page Lomax who approved the sword for military service. The sword is accompanied by a nice original brass and leather scabbard that is in very fine shape. The leather is solid and makes a fine display beside the sword. The sword and scabbard come on a great looking and complete original white buff leather belt. The buff leather has a pleasing white color all over. On the inside of the belt it has the rectangular maker marking of the H.A. Dingee of New York. They made the belts for Ames. It has the excellent 2-piece sword belt buckle intact with the vividly clear "US" in the center. The brass of the buckle is a gorgeous untouched color that displays superbly. You very seldom see these in such fine condition. This is a beautiful and complete 1839 Dated Ames artillery short sword in scabbard with the full belt rig intact. This one is a keeper by anyone's standards.

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