Ball, Tomkins & Black Presentation Sword, Inscribed "Presented by the State of Illinois to Gen. James Shields"
date: label: date made
content: ca 1848
name: label: associated person
content: Shields, James
label: maker
content: Ball, Tompkins & Black
notes: label: Description
content: Sword: The blade of this sword is long, slightly curved, and single-edged. The fuller is shallow and wide, and runs about 2/3rds down the length of the blade. There are floral designs and military trophies made of gold chasing on both sides. The obverse also features a scene of soldiers and cavalry marching outside of a city, and the reverse shows soldiers marching through an open desert. The grip is cylindrical. It bears a casting of a naked man on the front and of a (classical?) soldier on the back. The sides are decorated in a scale pattern. The grip turns into the pommel, which is a very large classical soldier's helmet. There is no knuckleguard on this sword. A casting of a large eagle with its wings spread make up the two quillons and the ricasso. The langet on the obverse is a casting of Zeus's head, and the langet on the reverse is the US coat of arms.
label: Description
content: Scabbard: The scabbard has two gold mounts and a drag. The first mount bears a casting of the head of Hermes surrounded by a leaf design on top and a tile pattern below. The second mount features a similar design as the first mount, but with a blank medallion in the place of a face. The drag is decorated with scroll designs. The space above the top mount is engraved with scroll designs, and the space between the mounts is engraved with an inscription to General Shields. The space between the second mount and the drag is covered in floral and scroll designs. There is a floral/scroll pattern engraved all along the back of the scabbard. There are two carrying rings, one on the right side of the top mount, and one on the right side of the second mount.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: Place Made
content: United States: New York, New York
label: given by / presented in
content: United States: Illinois
topic: label: Subject
content: Edged Weapons
label: related event
content: Mexican War
setName: label: See more items in
content: Military and Society: Armed Forces History, Military
label: See more items in
content: Military
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: AF.5653
label: catalog number
content: 5653
label: accession number
content: 22876
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Sword
label: Object Name
content: sword
label: Other Terms
content: Sword; Edged Weapons; Presentation
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal, steel (blade material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal, gilt (scabbard material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (hilt material)
label: Measurements
content: blade: 31 1/2 in x 1 in; 80.01 cm x 2.54 cm
label: Measurements
content: scabbard: 32 3/4 in x 1 1/4 in; 83.185 cm x 3.175 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 39 in x 5 1/2 in; 99.06 cm x 13.97 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall, scabbard: 3/4 in x 1 3/4 in x 32 5/8 in; 1.905 cm x 4.445 cm x 82.8675 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall, sword: 1 1/2 in x 5 1/4 in x 39 in; 3.81 cm x 13.335 cm x 99.06 cm