Confederate staff and field officer’s sword with a 31″ blade and a cast brass guard with large raised letters “CSA” on the bottom below the blade edge, and in smaller raised letters around the spine, “NASHVILLE PLOW WORKS.” The top of the guard is rough textured and partially stippled. The brass backstop and bird’s head pommel are smooth and of one piece, and the brown leather-covered grip is bound with twisted brass wire. A leather blade washer is still present. The hilt rates very good with a dark brown patina on the guard, moderate wear on the leather-covered grip with all of the wire intact, and the blade bears an unstopped fuller and shows evidence of an old cleaning with a small area of faint pitting. The original iron scabbard has a brass throat and drag with two brass bands having iron rings. The scabbard has an old repair to an open seam at the throat and is in good condition with a dark patina and patches of dark corrosion but no significant dents. Oversized.
With arms at short supply during the early days of the Civil War, the Nashville Plow Works of Nashville, Tennessee, effectively plied the opposite of Isaiah 2:3-4’s scripture verse by beating plow shears into swords and sabers for scores of Confederate soldiers. Also known as Sharp & Hamilton, the firm is most often associated with manufacturing weaponry for western armies between 1861 and the Federal capture of Nashville in 1862, generating a wealth of Confederate arms that ranged from enlisted men’s sabers to high-ranking field officer swords such as this. Produced during the infancy of the Southern war effort, this officer’s saber is known as the rarest and most sought-after of all Nashville Plow Works swords. Provenance: Rebel Relics.
