A SINGULAR NEW ORLEANS PRESENTATION AND ONE OF THE FINEST CONFEDERATE SWORDS IN EXISTENCE

Important Confederate Naval Presentation Sword to Capt. A. L. Myers, C.S.N., by Thomas, Griswold & Co., New Orleans, c. 1861–62.

An exceptional New Orleans presentation of the celebrated “Fort‑guard” pattern—etched “C.S.N.” and housed in a gold‑washed brass scabbard with chased silver naval mounts, presented to the early Confederate commander of the gunboat Oregon.

Curved single‑fullered blade, finely etched on both sides with arabesques and patriotic devices and bearing at the forte a clear panel “C.S.N.” (Confederate States Navy). Obverse ricasso crisply stamped “THOMAS, GRISWOLD & Co. / NEW ORLEANS.” Cast‑brass hilt of the firm’s M1850 Foot Officer type incorporating Thomas, Griswold’s celebrated openwork “Fort” motif guard; phrygian‑helmet pommel with laurel; spiral ribbed grip of carved bone/ivory with twisted brass wire wrap. Together with an extraordinary gold‑washed sheet‑brass scabbard fitted with three elaborately chased silver mounts, the throat and ring bands decorated with shells, roped rings and sunburst anchors, and the shoe drag with scallop shell and anthemion, each mount retaining a deep, untouched patina from long preservation. Overall 34 1/8, 25 3/4 in. blade. 

The scabbard face is neatly engraved in flowing script: “Presented to Capt. A. L. Myers … by his friends on the Lake shore” (New Orleans). The reverse carries the Latin motto “Semper paratus, semper fidelis”(“Always ready, always faithful”). The hilt and mounts preserve their original, untouched silvering and gilt; the blade shows light gray toning with scattered specks consistent with age and service.

A professional steamboat master on the Gulf coast before the war, Capt. Abraham (A.) L. Myers (1822-) was closely identified with the fast mail and passenger packets between New Orleans and Mobile. With Louisiana’s secession, the side‑wheel steamer Oregon, a Mobile Mail Line vessel then trading between the two cities, was seized for Confederate use and initially employed as a blockade‑runner. Converted to a gunboat later in 1861, Oregon was placed under Captain A. L. Myers, patrolling Lake Pontchartrain, Mississippi Sound, and the approaches to Ship Island. Under Myers the vessel evacuated Confederate stores from Ship Island in September 1861, skirmished repeatedly with USS New London in the Sound and at Pass Christian, and formed part of the small Confederate flotilla attempting to check Union advances along the Gulf coast. Pressed by Federal forces in April 1862, Oregon and consorts were confined to Lake Pontchartrain and sunk as blockships to prevent capture when New Orleans fell. Contemporary naval records further show Myers was appointed Acting Master, C.S. Navy, on 27 February 1863; later Master (Provisional Navy) on 2 June 1864, continuing in Confederate naval service after the loss of Oregon.

A contemporaneous New Orleans newspaper announced this very sword, praising it as “one of the most superb” produced by Thomas, Griswold & Co. and noting the inscription and motto given “to Captain A. L. Myers of the Oregon … by his friends on the Lake shore”—a civic tribute reflecting the esteem of the lakefront community that watched his flotilla guard the approaches to the city in the anxious months before the Federal occupation.

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.