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THB[CIVIL WAR] IDed Revenue-Marine Captain's One of a Kind M1852 Naval Officer's Sword
![[CIVIL WAR] IDed Revenue-Marine Captain's One of a Kind M1852 Naval Officer's Sword](https://s1.img.bidsquare.com/item/xl/3264/32643973.jpeg?t=1UWmoC)
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About Auction
LiveNov 22, 2025
This exclusive catalog presents a select offering from the personal collection of Alejandro "Alex" de Quesada Jr., renowned historian, author, and collector. The catalog features exceptionally rare swords, historically significant belt buckles and military insignia, original Civil War flags, and a wide range of ephemera representing pivotal moments in military history. Fleischer's Auctions info@fleischersauctions.com
View Full Catalog (254)
- Lot Description
M1852 naval officer's sword. Philadelphia: W. H. Horstmann & Sons, ca. 1864.
29 5/16 in. single-edged, slightly curved spear-point blade with a 20 1/8 in. stopped median fuller and a narrow second fuller, unstopped, along the back edge, measuring 19 in. Sword overall approximately 36 1/2 in. Pattern hilt with a clearly struck eagle to the pommel cap and a dolphin finial. Silver grip with 16 wraps of triple-strand wire, with the exterior wires braided and the interior coiled. Ricasso with gilt-brass disc reading "PROVED". Blade acid-etched and gold washed overall; to obverse, "W. H. Horstmann / & Sons / Philadelphia," with a fouled anchor superimposed with a federal shield, a ring of 13 stars, and a stand of arms with a "USN" flag; to reverse, with an eagle atop a carronade, a fouled anchor, a "U.S.N." ribband, and a fouled line with oak leaves and acorns. Spine etched "Iron Proof".
Complete in a customized, completely unique black shagreen-over-wood scabbard with ornate gilt-brass mounts. The center mount, bisected by a Revenue-Marine insignia, is inscribed as follows: "Presented to Captain John A. Webster Junr. by the Steerage Officers & Crew / of the U.S. Revenue Steamer MAHONING as a token of Regard Oct: 1864." The topmount is engraved with an eagle atop a cannon before a stand of arms with a Phrygian cap, and the chape with a ship's mast and the sword's pattern dolphin drag. All of the mounts are ornamented with seashell depictions.
Captain John Adams Webster, Jr., (1825-1875) was the son of War of 1812 heroic naval officer and fellow captain in the Revenue-Marine, John Adams Webster (1787-1877). The younger Webster would enter the service ca. 1841 as a third lieutenant and rise through the ranks, being promoted to captain on 27 July 1860.
Webster was in command of the U.S.R.C. James C. Dobbin when the ship was overtaken and the crew was captured by secessionists on 4 January 1861. When Georgia Governor Joseph E. Brown heard word of the Dobbin's illegal seizure at Savannah, he ordered the cutter and crew released. Webster would continue to serve in the Revenue-Marine through the end of the Civil War and until his death in 1875.
The U.S.R.C. Mahoning, later U.S.R.C. Levi Woodbury, was commissioned into the Revenue-Marine in July 1864. The ship was outfitted with a 30-pounder Parrott rifle and five 24-pounder howitzers. On one occasion, she was fired upon by Union forces, who mistook the Mahoning for a Confederate privateer ship.
The now-defunct Revenue-Marine, later Revenue Cutter Service, was one of two branches which merged to form the extant United States Coast Guard in 1915. Though the Revenue-Marine existed for over a century, the service recruited far fewer than the other United States military branches. During the Civil War, officers of the Revenue-Marine were required to use m1852 Naval Officers' swords in lieu of the m1843 Revenue-Marine Officers' swords. This sword, per the markings to the blade, was evidently intended for use by a naval officer and was co-opted by the crew of the Mahoning, albeit with a one of a kind scabbard.
Note: This lot cannot be packaged and shipped in-house. Successful bidders winning items marked as being packaged and shipped by a third-party service are responsible for paying the third party directly. We are happy to offer complimentary drop-off service to local third-party packing/shipping companies in Columbus, Ohio.
[Civil War, Union, Confederate] [Swords, Knives, Bowie Knives, Knife, Blades] [Navy, Naval History] [Revenue-Marine, Revenue Marine, Revenue Marines, Revenue Cutter Service] [Coast Guard]
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