SUPERB IDENTIFIED FIRMIN & SONS DOLPHIN-HEAD CONFEDERATE NAVAL OFFICER'S SWORD. ONE OF THE MOST SOUGHT-AFTER CONFEDERATE OFFICER'S SWORDS.

1. Regulation Confederate Naval officer's sword and scabbard. London, England: Firmin & Sons, ca 1862-1863.

29 1/2" single-edged, spear-point blade with 17 1/2" stopped median fuller. Overall 36 3/4". Dolphin-head gilt brass hilt with solid guard and hinged counter guard, with a hole to fit in stud on the reverse of the scabbard throat for streamlined wearing. The guard is cast with the Confederate naval insignia of a fouled anchor superimposed over crossed cannons surrounded by cotton and tobacco motifs. A brass knuckle guard extends from the dolphin's mouth, with the interior finely engraved "Maury." Grooved wood grip with white shagreen and seven wraps of triple-strand wire, with center wire coiled. Ricasso etched with six-line Firmin mark: "FIRMIN & SONS / - 153 - / STRAND / - & 13 - / CONDUIT ST. / LONDON." Reverse ricasso with gilt-brass disc reading "PROOF" within an etched six-point star. Both sides of the blade are etched with cotton, tobacco, and foliate motifs. The obverse is etched with a fouled anchor superimposed on crossed cannons. The reverse is etched with a 13-star First National Flag surmounting an anchor. 

Brass-mounted leather scabbard with square knotted rope motifs at suspension mounts and entwined snakes at the drag. Applied black finish over leather. Two suspension rings. 

2. Tarred fabric case. Approx. 41 1/8" x 6 1/2".

3. Full-length standing albumen CDV portrait of Maury in uniform with the offered sword. 

3. Partly printed document signed by Stephen R. Mallory, as Confederate Secretary of the Navy. Richmond, [Virginia], 23 October 1862. 1 page, 4to. 

An appointment to First Lieutenant for William L. Maury, from 2 October 1862. An added remark notes that he was "registered No. 2. The lowest number takes rank." 

4. Manuscript document. Bahia, [Brazil], 13 May 1863. 4to, 1 page. On Palacio do Governo da Bahia letterhead. 

Addressed directly to Lt. William Maury, the document from the Brazilian Imperial government asserts their "strict neutrality" in the ongoing Civil War and emphasizes that they cannot consent to any hostilities in the jurisdiction of their territorial waters. 

William Lewis Maury (ca 1813 - 1878) was a career Navy man, having first enlisted as a midshipman in the United States Navy in 1829. He began at the United States Naval Observatory, joined the United States Exploring Expedition from 1838 to 1842, and later served on the Navy Efficiency Board.

At the outbreak of war, he resigned his commission and joined the nascent Confederate Navy. Initially assigned to coastal defense at Sewell's Point, Virginia, he was soon transferred to the Confederate Torpedo Service with assignments at Wilmington Station, Charlotte, North Carolina, and Charleston Station. 

On 9 April 1863, Maury took command of the commerce raider CSS Georgia, not to be confused with the battery of the same name that defended Savannah. She was an iron-hulled cruiser with orders to take any opportunity to prey upon United States shipping. The document from Brazil included with the sword dates from one of the Georgia's first ports under Maury's command.

James Morris Morgan (1845-1925), author of the admired Recollections of a Rebel Reefer (1917), was an officer serving under Maury. He describes his time aboard the Georgia (pp. 112-181) in great detail, including his time in Bahia in Chapter XIV. He notes that "in the middle of the night of May 13-14 we entered the great Bay of Todos os Santos...and dropped anchor in front of the Brazilian city of Bahia." This indicates that the warning document was issued to Maury immediately upon his arrival. 

While in Brazil, Maury released prisoners taken during the capture of the Dictator to the American Consul, "rather than have trouble with the Brazilian Government." Privy to direct negotiations with the governor of Bahia thanks to his fluency in French, Morgan reports of another near conflict: "The American Consul protested against our being allowed to replenish our coal bunkers from the British bark Castor which lay near us...on the protest of the United States Consul, however, the governor refused to allow us to coal from her. We then made a 'sale' of part of the cargo to a native merchant, had it put ashore, and then 'bought' it from him." (pp. 127-128). After they departed, the ship would travel to Trinidad; Simon's Bay, Cape Colony; and Tenerife in the Canary Islands, capturing nine prizes on the way. 

Remarkably, Morgan wielded the same Firmin & Sons sword as Maury. Albaugh indeed quotes the passage in Recollections when Morgan presents the sword to the Confederate Museum as a form of introduction. (Albaugh p. 47; Morgan pp. 464-465). Morgan, unfortunately, does not detail the exact circumstances in which he acquired the sword. It is likely, however, that Maury and Morgan both acquired the English-made swords while preparing to board the Georgia in London in late March 1863. There are flag variations in Firmin swords, but both here have the First Confederate National flag. 

One of the finest and most desirable Confederate swords, identified with excellent documents as belonging to Captain William Lewis Maury.

At the outbreak of war, Confederate Navy commander James D. Bulloch was sent to England to procure supplies and equipment for the nascent military and contracted with Firmin & Sons, a well-established producer of military goods in London. The design of the sword has been attributed to Confederate Naval officer George T. Sinclair and was based upon the English Pattern 1827 Lion's Head Naval Officer's Sword. Albaugh describes the sword as "one of the rarest and most beautiful of all the blades that were drawn in defense of the South." (Confederate Edged Weapons, p. 47). Other examples are illustrated in Albaugh's Confederate Edged Weapons (#12, pp. 47-50) and A Photographic Supplement of Confederate Swords (pp. 77-80).

As Albaugh concludes, "it is hard to imagine a more exquisite piece except only the one carried by General Robert E. Lee." And it is hard to imagine a finer example. Pristine condition with excellent enhancing identification with documents. 

A true prize for the Confederate sword or naval collector. 

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.

References: 

William A. Albaugh III. Confederate Edged Weapons. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1960.

Albaugh. A Photographic Supplement of Confederate Swords. Orange, Virginia: Moss Publications, 1979. 

James Morris Morgan. Recollections of a Rebel Reefer. Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1917. 

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