ONE OF FEW DOCUMENTED BLAISE DOUGLAS MANUFACTURED "CSA" STAFF & FIELD SWORDS EXTANT 

EXCITING, RARE, BULLET-STRUCK EXAMPLE 

More photos are forthcoming.

Confederate Staff & Field Officer’s Sword. Columbia, South Carolina: Blaise Douglas, circa 1861–1864. Approx. 37 1/2 in. overall, blade approx. 31 1/2 in.; complete with original metal scabbard.

A rarely seen Confederate staff and field officer’s sword, attributed to the Columbia, South Carolina maker Blaise Douglas, distinguished by its boldly cast “CSA” guard, one of the most recognizable and coveted motifs in Confederate sword manufacture. Surviving examples produced by Blaise Douglas exceptionally scarce, and this example, preserved with its original scabbard, stands as an important representative of a Southern wartime workshop whose production appears to have been both limited and only fragmentarily recorded.

While the sword is itself a rarity, it is elevated still further by unmistakable evidence that the scabbard (at the drag) was struck by a bullet, almost assuredly in combat. Unlike the great many purported “bullet-struck” Civil War items that are fanciful or exaggerated, the damage here is both convincing and evidence to the sword’s actual field use.

The hilt retains a rich, undisturbed patina, the “CSA” guard especially crisp and visually powerful, while the grip preserves its original black leather covering with an attractive sheen and only expected wear from age and handling.

The sword’s form closely relates to the celebrated Confederate States Armory / Louis Froelich staff and field officer’s swords produced at Wilmington and later Kenansville, North Carolina, especially in the prominent cast CSA guard. Period and modern specialist literature alike identify Froelich as one of the Confederacy’s most important sword makers, and surviving swords of that model have long been regarded among the most distinctive of all Southern-produced edged weapons. The present example appears to share that broader wartime design vocabulary while differing in details noted by specialists, including the absence of the pierced slot above the letter “C”, the taller ferrule, and other construction particulars advanced in support of a Blaise Douglas attribution.

Its original metal scabbard is an important survival in its own right. As mentioned above, most striking is the dramatic period damage near the drag, where the sheet iron bears a severe impact from a projectile strike, leaving the scabbard with what might justly be called a battle wound of its own.

What is known of Blaise Douglas is tantalizingly slight, which only increases the importance of swords attributed to his Columbia establishment. Contemporary newspaper advertisements from the war years place his manufactory in downtown Columbia, where he advertised the production of “swords, spurs, bits, etc.” and sought skilled blacksmiths with the promise of good wages. These notices from 1862 and 1863 provide rare documentary evidence that Douglas was indeed engaged in military production in South Carolina during the period in which this sword was almost certainly made.

Provenance: Steve & Patricia Mullinax Collection; Dr. William Blackman Collection.

Note: This lot cannot be packaged and shipped in-house. Successful bidders winning items marked as being packaged and shipped by a third-party service are responsible for paying the third party directly. We are happy to offer complimentary drop-off service to local third-party packing/shipping companies in Columbus, Ohio.

[Civil War, Union, Confederate] [Swords, Knives, Bowie Knives, Knife, Cutlass, Cutlasses, Blades]

Soldering present on the scabbard.