Baltimore/Philadelphia Style Silver Dirk c. 1820

[kanemono]

This is a silver naval dirk which may have been made in Baltimore or Philadelphia. It is a style popular in the 1820’s. This dirk has no touch marks which attributes it to an American maker. The dirk is 8 ½” overall with a 5 ½” long blade. The only mark on the dirk is a tiny “5” at the top of the scabbard. The sword and cross belt plate shown are also silver. Peter Tuite in his book U.S. Naval Officers: Their Swords and Dirks states that all swords found in this configuration are all silver plated. The sword may be a Merchant Marine or Customs officer’s sword. The cross belt plate is made of coin silver and depletion plated. I will write up the sword and cross belt plate at a later date. I have included them with the dirk since all were silver and naval regulations required these pieces to be yellow mounted.

 

 

[tarbridge]

Nice ...these early blades are interesting.

[reschenk]

Just an uninformed query, but what were the regulations of the US Revenue Marine at the time? Was yellow the rule for them, or was silver acceptable?

[Terry K.]

Very nice! Looks European made to me. Sword tip? made into dirk? I like it as I'm a sucker for early Na

[kanemono]

Hi Terry, I agree with you that the dirk was made from a sword tip. During that period nothing was thrown away.

[Terry K.]

kanemono,

You are correct. They reused everything as it was in short supply here.