Officer Swords (quality and pricing)

[jjasonjames]

Folks,

I have recently been voted as captain of my company. I am looking to get an M-1850 US Foot officer's sword, but I noticed that the prices vary wildly among internet merchants. I want a quality sword, but sometimes I wonder if price is actually equivalent to quality. I guess another question I would have is how do you know that a reproduction has a fair amount of "quality". Granted, you could look at a piece of garbage and tell that it was garbage, but what about the more subtle things to look for.

Does anyone suggest a trusted merchant? Is there any brand that I should totally avoid?

Would entertain purchasing a used sword as well if anyone knows someone looking to sell. I'm not interested in mounting it on a wall somewhere, it needs to be "played with!!"

Thanks for your help.

[TKlas]

Re: Officer Swords (quality and pricing)

Hi Jason,

The simple truth, their really is not a good replica out on the market for the M-1850 foot officers sword. I own a Legendary Arms M1850 Foot Officers Sword which I did some defarb work on and plan to send it out to Tom Nardi to have the wrap replaced. It is acceptable but only after quite a bit of work.
Best bet would be checking out Ames and original import swords.

I would suggest checking out this good thread which was obtained by using the search function. There was another detailed thread on this topic but it bit the dust years ago with an AC Crash.

http://www.authentic-campaigner.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3105&highlight=Officer+Swords

Good luck,

Tom

[coastaltrash]

Re: Officer Swords (quality and pricing)

The best thing I can tell you is to save the money and purchase an original non IDed sword for somewhere in the range of 250-500. While it may seem like quite a bit of money, the men you lead dump $600 into a rifle to follow you, plus additional costs for a defarb.

Check with Tim Prince at College Hill Arsenal.

[jjasonjames]

Re: Officer Swords (quality and pricing)

Thanks to you all for your comments.

-JJ

[Guy Gane III]

Re: Officer Swords (quality and pricing)

.....or you could go to an ORIGINAL source and just get a sweet Ames & co. sword....

Ames Sword Company

No repop can ever compare......