Antique Sword Research
General Sword Identification
Regretfully, I cannot offer a general identification service for everyone, as my time is already limited with running my businesses. If you have a sword that you just want to find out about, then there are various useful forums and discussion boards, but my current advice would be to head straight to the International Antique Collectors page on Facebook
and courteously ask for some assistance there.
Of course, if you are specifically wanting to sell your swords or other items, then of course feel free to contact me with photos at eastonantiquearms@gmail.com
Research Articles by Matt Easton
- An Important Reeves Patent Solid Hilt British Light Cavalry Officer's Sword
- The British 1845 Pattern Wilkinson Style Officers' Blade
- A Rare 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards Officer's Sword
- British Infantry Officers' Swords of the 1890s and the 1895 Infantry Sword Exercise
- Two Rare French Officer's Swords in the 'Fantaisie' Style
- An Important Early Numbered Wilkinson Sword
- Thurkle - A British Sword Making Dynasty
- Special-Order "CJM pattern" Swords by Wilkinson
- 1796 Pattern Light Cavalry Sabres: How Much Do They Weigh?
- 1864 Pattern British Army Practice Swords (Gymnasium Sabres)
- A Wilkinson Special Order Sword for Major Brodhurst of the 4th Gurkha Rifles
- Interesting Swords In A 2nd Anglo-Afghan War Photograph
- 'Best Swordsman' Contests, Awards & Swords
- The Revised Cutlass and Sword Exercise of Sergeant William Tuohy
- British Army Regulation 'Gymnasium', or Practice Sabres, 1864-1911
Archive of Sold Antique Swords & Other Arms
You can find photos and descriptions of all the swords I have sold online through the Sold Archive here
and also for older sales from the previous website online here.
Antique Weapon Videos with Matt Easton
For the last few years I have been running a fairly popular YouTube channel and one of my playlists there is on antique swords and other weapons. Check out the playlist for more information.
British Military Sword Research
In respect to British military swords, the 'bibles' are:
- Swords of the British Army, by Brian Robson
- The British Cavalry Sword, by Richard Dellar
I have been keeping archives of previously-sold swords, with photos and descriptions, as linked higher up this page. You may find this a useful research to learning about the different models, or 'patterns'.
If you have a sword that you cannot identify then I recommend asking on the Antique & Military sub-forum of Swordforum International, where you will also find a great many other useful resources for the hobby.
A similar forum is the Antique Sword Forum, where you will also find several experts ready to help. In addition, there are now a number of dedicated pages and groups on Facebook.
Another very useful resource is Oldswords.com
- this contains a database of military swords from across the world, as well as details about makers, retailers etc.
I am afraid that I do not have the spare time to identify your swords for you myself, but the leads above should give you lots of options.
If your sword has initials etched on the blade, a crest or some other identifying feature linking it to an officer, then you can research the military careers of British officers through Hart's Annual Army Lists. You can search through scans of many of these on Archive.org
and other free online databases.
Researching Wilkinson Swords
Privately purchased Wilkinson-made swords from 1854 onward carried serial numbers on the spine of the blade. Most of the records for these sales survive and are accessible through Richard Milner.
These records give the date of manufacture of each blade and sometimes include the buyer's name, which can aid in researching the officers who carried these swords. You can contact Richard Milner and find out how to order a record here: http://www.armsresearch.co.uk
John Latham of the Wilkinson Sword Company (he took over after Henry Wilkinson died) gave a fantastic lecture in 1862 on the shape of sword blades - this can be read here.
For interest, the chemical composition tolerance of steel used by Wilkinson in the 19th century was:
Carbon................0.90 to 1,00%
Silicon.................0.20% Maximum
Manganese..........0.15 to 0.35%
Sulphur...............0.02% Maximum
Phosphorous......... 0.02% Maximum
This is a high carbon steel, approximately equivalent to modern 1095 steel, but it was specially made for Wilkinson and is not exactly matched by modern steels.
I have compiled a list of Victorian-era Wilkinson serial numbers and dates here below, which I hope will ease quick dating for fellow sword collectors (the 'from' and 'to' show the range of serial numbers). I have stopped at the end of the Victorian era, but you can find the dates for later serial numbers on the Oldswords.com
website.
I have also added a graph below to show annual production levels, which I think is of interest - note that certain Victorian campaigns, such as the Crimean, Egyptian and Sudanese expeditions, and the Boer War, seem to have resulted in an increase in production of officer's swords. If you want to access the specific record for a numbered Wilkinson-made sword then please contact Richard Milner.
