Civil War Presentation Sword
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GUEST:
I've got a Civil War sword of my great-great-grandfather's and a picture of him in his uniform.
APPRAISER:
And who was your great-great-grandfather?
GUEST:
General Stephen McGroarty.
APPRAISER:
And what did he do during the course of the Civil War?
GUEST:
Well, he was from Cincinnati.
APPRAISER:
Okay.
GUEST:
And he was in, I think, 61st Regiment, and he fought in many battles.
APPRAISER:
Okay.
GUEST:
He was injured many times.
APPRAISER:
Yeah, we were looking at some of his history. We noticed that he had been wounded multiple times. He started, I believe, in the 10th Ohio.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
Was wounded so much he was sort of mustered out of service, and he came back, eventually as the colonel of the 61st. Well, what you have here is a beautiful presentation sword that was presented to him in honor of his service by his men. It's made by Clauberg of Solingen, Germany. It was probably purchased from a high-end retailer like Schuyler, Hartley and Graham in New York, or maybe even from Tiffany. As you can see, it's engraved with presentation information on it, the scabbard and the hilt are enhanced with faux rubies. It's really probably the highest-grade sword that Clauberg ever made. I would assume the sword was made between 1862 and 1864--obviously, there's some time lag, particularly on an import sword between it being made and brought over here. And it's entirely possible that all of the extra decoration was just done by the retailer. If we look here, we see a listing of battle engagements he was in, including one of those magic names, Gettysburg, here at the bottom.
GUEST:
Yes, I saw that.
APPRAISER:
But, that's not all the battles he was in. If we look at this side of the sword, we see more information about what he did, where he was, the people that presented the sword to him. It's an entire listing of his record in service during the American Civil War.
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
We know it's a Clauberg sword, because we've got the Clauberg maker's mark, here on the ricasso.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
And like most presentation-grade swords, it has an etched blade with floral patterns and a panoply of arms. But probably the nicest feature of the sword is this beautiful Lady Liberty statue hilt. Absolutely gorgeous. The hilt still retains some of the original gold gilt. Instead of a plain quillon on the top, you've got this dragon's head, and it's just a beautiful example of an incredibly high-grade sword.
GUEST:
Great.
APPRAISER:
Ordinarily, a sword like this, which has a little bit of condition issue in terms of the blade, it's not bright and shiny-
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
-is going to have a value of $5,000 to $7,000, maybe a little bit more.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
This sword has great history, has a wonderful hilt on it, is the highest-grade sword, essentially, that Clauberg made, and I think realistically, at auction, with all the history and with those magic words, "He was at Gettysburg,"
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
you've got a sword that's going to bring somewhere between $15,000 and $20,000.
GUEST:
Great.
APPRAISER:
It's just a wonderful, wonderful piece, and it's fabulous that it stayed in the family.
GUEST:
Yes.
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