Historical Swords From Around the World (Image Gallery) p. 24

Image Gallery

by Arienne King
published on 07 April 2021

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Continental Army Presentation Sword

by Metropolitan Museum of Art
published on 25 March 2021

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Continental Army Presentation Sword — View Full-Size Image

A presentation sword awarded to Colonel Marinus Willett (1740–1830 CE) of the Continental Army. It is one of ten "elegant swords" awarded by the Continental Congress to officers who demonstrated exceptional merit against the British during the American Revolution (1765-1783 CE). One side of the grip is decorated with the coat of arms of the United States of America the other is inscribed "Congress to Col. Willett, Oct. 11, 1777."
Steel blade. Hilt and scabbard decorated with silver, gold, wood, fishskin, and textile.

Made c. 1785–86 by the Parisian swordmaker C. Liger (l. c. 1770–93 CE). Length: 100.6 cm (39 5/8 in). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

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© Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY. Republished for educational/scholarly use under the museum's Open Access for Scholarly Content initiative. Original image by Metropolitan Museum of Art. Uploaded by Arienne King, published on 25 March 2021. The copyright holder has published this content under the following license: Copyright. You cannot use, copy, distribute, or modify this item without explicit permission from the author. Please note that content linked from this page may have different licensing terms.