FW Widmann Type VI Eagle Pommel Sword & Scabbard ca.1840 For Sale

For your consideration is an early US Army officer’s sword by Frederick Widmann, ornamental sword maker from Philadelphia active between 1828-48. This is probably his most popular style of eagle pommel, known as the Type 6 amongst collectors. Produced toward the latter days of the eagle pommel sword being in fashion in America, this would’ve been worn by an Army officer ca.1840-45 give or take about 2-3 years. As you can see, it displays many of Widmann’s distinctive embellishments including his trademark grapevine ferrule, seashell quillion, “W” etched into the ricasso of the Weyersburg-stamped blade, and of course the extremely tight copper wire-wrapped grip wound from extremely thin wire. The blade is not in the best shape, missing its original blued finish as well as having many chips at the edge from about 2/3 down its length to a couple inches from the tip. These chips could be from a Seminole tomahawk or kids playing with it, there were no records/provenance of the original owner when I acquired it so the origin of those are anyone’s guess. Included is the intact brass scabbard, a real rarity when it comes to Widmann Type VI’s. I’d say about 4/5 of these that I’ve come across are missing their scabbard or the scabbard is heavily damaged. There is some green tarnish at the chape and some dents in the brass. These dents are very common on brass sword scabbards from around this period & were usually the result of the man wearing it accidentally closing it in a door roughly 180 years ago. Other than the fact that the blade’s in 5/10 condition, this is a very nice and complete example of one of the most iconic antebellum American eagle head swords from the last real master of the craft.