MODEL 1833 US ARMY DRAGOON SABER w/ SCABBARD –
DATED AMES 1837 w/ “UNITED STATES”
ENGRAVED ON THE BLADE: This very historic
US Army Dragoon Model 1833 Saber is highlighted by the
engraved inscription on the blade “UNITED STATES” over a
floral banner, and retains a very legible, engraved
maker’s mark: “N. P. AMES, CUTLER, SPRINGFIELD, 1837”.
The engraving is still legible, enhancing the value of
this Model 1833 Saber as the engraving on these blades
was very shallow when it was originally applied and due
to wear and cleaning through the years, the characters
are often completely worn away.
In addition to the maker’s mark, the saber has all of
the correct inspector stamps present and fully legible
on the components. Both the blade - stamped immediately
above the guard and below the date, and on the quillon
disk, are stamped “TW”, indicating they were inspected
by Thomas Warner. The face of the guard is inspected
“HKC” and “ORD”, for Major Henry Knox Craig, the final
Ordnance Department Inspector who accepted the finished
saber.
The blade is beautifully bright, particularly in light
of the obvious use to which this sabre was subjected.
There is no heavy pitting and
only a few scattered darkened spots on the
surface. The majority of the blade surface still
retains a smooth, bright, shiny surface. The blade is
full length at 34” and has not been sharpened out of
profile or shortened.
The guard has a very nice naturally aged patina, and is
full form with no misshaping or breaks, and the leather
washer is present. The guard assembly is attached to
tang with the correct, original spanner nut, and it does
not appear to have ever been removed. The
leather covering the grip has mostly worn away,
suggesting this sabre was definitely carried by a
mounted soldier in the field, and not one that remained
behind in garrison. Likewise, the wire wrap is no
longer present, equally subject to breaking away when
subjected to use.
The original steel scabbard appears in every way to be
original to this sabre and it fits the sabre with a
minimal amount of play. Both of the correct split rings
are present and full form. The drag is correctly
stamped with the inspector initials “WS” on one side and
"ORD" on the other. The scabbard is generally smooth, with some light
to medium pitting evenly present over all the surfaces
as can be seen in the photographs below. The seams are all tight with
no holes or splits. The scabbard has the
characteristic dent on both sides, approximately one
third of the way up from the drag. The Model 1833 Sabre
tended to rattle in the scabbard, not only a nuisance,
but a serious determent when in the field. A
significant number of these sabres seem to have the same
set of dents, or crimps if you will, in the same general
area of the scabbard. While these scabbards were well
known for their light-weight construction, and tendency
to be dented, bent or broken in service, given the
frequency in which these crimps show up in the same
location on the scabbard, it is possible this was
intentionally done by the soldiers as an accepted
practice in order to trap the blade in the scabbard and
reduce the rattling noise.
In spite of the obvious signs of issue and use, this Model 1833 Dragoon Saber
still presents as a very attractive
historical saber from the early days of the nation when
the US Army maintained a very limited mounted force, and
due to limited production and a relatively low survival
rate, examples of this saber are quite scarce.
Even with the evidence of wear, this
specimen is priced well under its full potential and it will be a pleasure to own. (0220) $975
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