Officer's sword

Although many American silversmiths are known to have made swords, relatively few have survived. This presentation or commemorative dress sword (or saber), complete with a rare silver scabbard, can be dated within the working years of the well-known and prolific Baltimore partnership of brothers Thomas and Andrew Warner.

According to family history, the sword was owned by a member of the Van Deventer family, either Peter, who served with the New Jersey militia during the Revolution and was active during the War of 1812, or his son Christopher, a West Point graduate who fought with distinction in the War of 1812. The engraved date of 1783 probably refers to the signing of the Treaty of Paris, and the nationalistic and classical emblems mark it as a product of its time.

In a detailed, unpublished analysis of a related sword in the collction of the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts, Gary Albert presents a subtle case study of the use and origin of such weapons, including the possibility that they were imported (in whole or in part) from Britain or France by the Warners. Albert suggests that the blades of the MESDA and MFA examples, in any event, were probably produced in Solingen, Germany.

^{This text has been adapted from "Silver of the Americas, 1600-2000," edited by Jeannine Falino and Gerald W.R. Ward, published in 2008 by the MFA. Complete references can be found in that publication.}