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Revenue Cutter Service Swords out there?


PaulR
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I am looking for a presentable condition US Revenue Cutter Service officer's sword. Are there any out there? What can I expect to pay? I have never even seen one? Do they look like those the CG uses today?

 

My CO wants to buy one for display in the wardroom.

 

Any assistance with any of my questions above will be greatly appreciated.

 

Paul

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Horseclover

Harold Peterson, of The American Sword 1775-1945 discusses and shows some examples of the swords. The Google book link above shows about as many examples as one will likely see. Hopefully the link is accessible to you, or just Google "US Revenue Cutter Service sword"

 

Excepting the straight bladed variant of the naval 1852 type, there are also Life Saving Service swords that surface from time to time. Finding any of them for sale is going to be a matter of chance and pricy, in pretty much any condition. I have seen only one example of the Life Saving Service show up on various boards of someone having one in hand and none having a Revenue Cutter Service sword.

 

An old auction of a grouping

 

http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/lot/an-historic-us-revenue-cutter-service-1631354-details.aspx?intObjectID=1631354

 

AFAIK (and I have only ever seen one of those as well) the Coast Guard swords are sabers like the naval sword but with a Coast Guard blade etch.

 

 

Cheers

 

GC

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GC,

 

Thanks for the information. I greatly appreciate it. I notice that my personal USCG sword is identical to that used by Naval Officers, with the exception of USCG being engraved into the blade.

 

I knew that the USRCS swords would be tough and pricey to find, but not this much so. I know that the USRCS was pretty small pre 1915, but not that small. I hope to get lucky and find one, but I will let my command know that the price will be high. Are there any good companies that reproduce the USRCS swords?

 

Regards

Paul

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Horseclover

I have never seen a reproduction of either variety, smallsword or sabre. My thoughts on the smallsword type and scarcity may be that they were primarily dress items.

 

To be honest, it might be just as nice to have a cutlass assortment on the walls to better represent the service during the 19th century. Finding an 1841 cutlass and civil war type an easier chore. Short sabers before that not at all uncommon, right back to the origin of the revenue cutters. Models of the old ships, flags, firearms, pikes etc; other possibilities for wardroom decor.

 

Kind of a treasure hunt, regardless.

 

Cheers

 

GC

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Horseclover

Use a search engine for images and follow the links to the pages for sales and auctions. Here is a current lot for a naval sabre with an individual's name and known to have been with the revenue cutters.

 

 

http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/2337272

 

Another sold smallsword lot

 

http://www.cowanauctions.com/auctions/item.aspx?ItemId=102241

 

Cheers

 

GC

 

 

http://www.jfrinaldi.com/

 

Item 109

 

http://www.jfrinaldi.com/catalog/catalog00018.html

 

 

Another saber here

 

http://midwestcivilwarrelics.com/swords.html

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  • 1 year later...

Are you still looking for a USRCS sword? Gunderson Militaria has a decent example for sale for $1250. Here is the site: http://www.gundersonmilitaria.com/swordusrcs.jpg

 

I recently obtained a nice example as part of an auction lot of 4 late-19th/early-20th century US military swords. I don't think the auction house realized how uncommon these are. It is a fairly standard M1852 Navy-style sword, probably made by M. C. Lilly c.1910. The 31" blade is marked “F.J./HEIBERGER/WASHINGTON/DC” on the obverse riccaso. (Heiberger was a prominent military outfitter in D.C.) This sword differs from the Navy sword in that it is marked "USRCS" on the hilt instrad of "USN" and also on the scroll etched on the ribbon on the reverse side of the blade. (Interestingly, however, they kept the "USN" on the pennant shown on the mast head etched on the obverse side of the blade.) The grip on this sword also varies from the usually seen contemporary Navy examples in that the shark skin cover is relatively smooth vice the pebbly surface seen on most Navys. The knot on the sword appears to be the full dress knot used on M1902 Army sabers. I believe the USRCS used the same knot as the Navy, although the uniform regulations are somewhat unclear on this.

 

post-160923-0-01354300-1446300235.jpgpost-160923-0-48473200-1446300400.jpgpost-160923-0-27946200-1446300529.jpgpost-160923-0-30237800-1446300887.jpgpost-160923-0-62668000-1446301061.jpg

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The M.C. Lilley Co. could be a bit casual about details. I think this sword was originally marked USN, but the etching department removed it and then re-etched it USRCS. The background is rather deep. Both Ames and Lilley were gearing up production, so I doubt they wanted to make a pattern chance. This sword Is a conventional WWI USN sword, but with that nice little USRCS touch.

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  • 1 year later...

Gents,

 

I wanted to revive this 2014 thread to show a US Revenue Cutter Service (USRCS) Officer sword that I picked up at SOS last week. I have been looking for one of these swords for some time as they are few and far between... as well as being expensive. This particular sword is untouched and uncleaned and I think I will leave it this way as it has its own age patina attractiveness (to me at least). The time period for wear of these swords is unclear as US Revenue Marine / US Revenue Cutter Service Officers are seen in photographs wearing either the M1852 Navy Officer sword or this sword as far back as the Civil War. There was also a distinctive straight bladed sword worn in the interim as well, compounded by the loss/destruction of official regulations for this time period.

 

With the help of another forum member we have been able to track down the named owner and thus date this sword to circa 1904 when he graduated from the USRCS Academy. The owner served on the USRCS wooden sailing ship Thetis in the Bering Sea Patrol Fleet. The sword was retailed by Francis J. Heiberger in Washington, D.C. who had a shop there from 1866-1910. Notice the sword is almost identical to the Model 1852 USN Officer sword except where "USN" appears on the Navy sword this one shows the letters "USRCS" instead. The scabbard fittings are hand engraved with various motifs as well as the owner's entwined initials on the back of the top fitting. These swords were worn until the USRCS became the US Coast Guard (USCG) in 1915.

 

 

USRCS sword.JPG

USRCS sword hilt.JPG

USRCS sword guard.JPG

USRCS sword top band.JPG

USRCS sword blade banner.JPG

USRCS sword dealer.JPG

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The time period for wear of these swords is unclear as US Revenue Marine / US Revenue Cutter Service Officers are seen in photographs wearing either the M1852 Navy Officer sword or this sword as far back as the Civil War. There was also a distinctive straight bladed sword worn in the interim as well, compounded by the loss/destruction of official regulations for this time period....These swords were worn until the USRCS became the US Coast Guard (USCG) in 1915.

 

I think we can date this specific version with the initials "USRCS" on the hilt to 1894 to 1915. In 1894 the US Revenue Marine officially changed its name to the US Revenue Cutter Service, so these swords must be from after that date until the change to USCG in 1915.

 

I have also seen one example of the USN M1852/72-style sword which looked essentially identical, but had the initials "USRM" on the hilt in place of "USRCS". According to Peterson this version replaced the old second model small sword adopted in the 1870s some time after 1889. As such it would have had a very short service life, i.e. about 1890-1893. I had a picture of this sword, but unfortunately I can't find it right now. I think this is a very rare bird.

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  • 4 months later...

Thanks for sharing Sarge. Nice pickup! I got bit by the USRCS sword bug a year or so ago, and picked up a named one originally retailed by Heiberger as well. At first I thought researching USRCS cadets and officers was going to be impossible, but I was able to reconstruct a surprising amount of my 3rd Lieutenant's career online without specialty resources. Now I have the sword displayed along side a large silver-gelatin print of the USRC Onondaga photographed on a date when my sword was likely on board.

 

 

Gents,

 

I wanted to revive this 2014 thread to show a US Revenue Cutter Service (USRCS) Officer sword that I picked up at SOS last week. I have been looking for one of these swords for some time as they are few and far between... as well as being expensive. This particular sword is untouched and uncleaned and I think I will leave it this way as it has its own age patina attractiveness (to me at least). The time period for wear of these swords is unclear as US Revenue Marine / US Revenue Cutter Service Officers are seen in photographs wearing either the M1852 Navy Officer sword or this sword as far back as the Civil War. There was also a distinctive straight bladed sword worn in the interim as well, compounded by the loss/destruction of official regulations for this time period.

 

With the help of another forum member we have been able to track down the named owner and thus date this sword to circa 1904 when he graduated from the USRCS Academy. The owner served on the USRCS wooden sailing ship Thetis in the Bering Sea Patrol Fleet. The sword was retailed by Francis J. Heiberger in Washington, D.C. who had a shop there from 1866-1910. Notice the sword is almost identical to the Model 1852 USN Officer sword except where "USN" appears on the Navy sword this one shows the letters "USRCS" instead. The scabbard fittings are hand engraved with various motifs as well as the owner's entwined initials on the back of the top fitting. These swords were worn until the USRCS became the US Coast Guard (USCG) in 1915.

 

 

 

 

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Josh,

 

It is interesting that your sword was retailed by Heiberger, like mine. Most of the ones I have seen have his shop name on them. It was pointed out to me that Heiberger was also located near the Revenue Cutter Academy and apparently went after this small niche market. The swords themselves have various slight blade etch differences so Heiberger must have sold these over some time.

 

I like your display idea of having a ship photograph alongside your sword. Maybe I will start looking for a period print of the Thetis.

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  • 5 months later...

Thank you for this thread. I am researching a USRCS event that involves a sword from 1902 - this is really helpful. THANK YOU!

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