Researching English swords

Wilkinson is the only British sword company from the 19th century whose sales ledgers still exist. They are owned by Richard Milner of www.armsresearch.co.uk, and for a fee he will look up the sales information that corresponds with the serial numbers on Wilkinson swords. Not every entry will lead you directly to the original owner, but your chances are quite good that it will. There is a bit more of a gamble involved if the sword was purchased between 1914-1917 as the ledgers are often incomplete.

If the sword is from a different retailer or maker, the serial number will only be useful for assigning an approximate date to the sword. OldSwords.com has an excellent database of makers including serial numbers and the approximate dates associated with the numbers. There is a $10 annual fee for this part of the site (which is otherwise free, but requires users to register). However, if a sword has the owner's name or initials one can still find a match, or several likely matches.

Do you have a specific sword in your collection you'd like to research? If so, I would be delighted to help in any way I can (and please post some pics!). This is my area of interest, so just let me know!

(William) Buckmaster & Co. operated at 3 New Burlington Street in London between 1841 and 1884 (per Bezdek's Swords and Sword Makers of England and Scotland).

Cam,
I would date this sword to the early 1850s. It is a Pattern 1845 Infantry Officer's Sword. This pattern is nearly identical to the P1822, the difference being that the P1845 has a fullered "Wilkinson" blade instead of a pipe back blade. It is pre-1854 since it has a hinged guard. The Flowers of the Union under the VR did not appear until about 1853 or so, so that is why I think your sword may date to 1853-1854, and this obviously fits well within the time frame William Buckmaster & Co. were in operation (they were cutlers and uniform retailers). OldSwords does not have any useful serial number info for Buckmaster.

I have been told that the ivory insert was used to make the pommel smoother and to reduce wear to one's uniform, and that it was more commonly used by officers stationed in India. Unfortunately I do not have a source to back this up, its just something that came up in conversation. It makes sense, kind of. I am not really satisfied with the explanation, but without some sort of written documentation it is a good guess.

Without an officer's name or initials it will be impossible to research the original owner. It looks like a nice example of a mid 19th century British officer's sword, nonetheless! Does it have a scabbard?

If you are looking for books, I have a few recommendations. The essential title on British military sword patterns is Swords of the British Army by Brian Robson. It is out of print and quite expensive (~$300 US), but well worth the price, IMO. For maker information you have two options; subscribe to www.oldswords.com an/or purchase Swords and Sword Makers of England and Scotland by Richard Bezdek. This books is pretty reliable in the maker info section (from what I can tell), but the photo section contains a number of ID and dating errors. In other words, don't buy this books to learn about swords, buy it as a reference for makers. Another, VERY expensive option for maker information is Swords for Sea Service by Annis & May. This books is now about $500 US and more, and I am not sure if it is worth that price for the average collector. Some will say it is essential, but it isn't for me at that price.

I also recommend joining www.swordforum.com. There is a dedicated section for antique and military sword discussion. There is a diversity of interest and experience amongst the members, and several published authors contribute to the section as well.

Not that specifically address British military pattern swords. Others exist but from what I have heard they contain many errors and do not offer anything new. If you have one book on the subject, it should be the Robson title. Robert Wilkisnon-Latham has several books I'd like to purchase since they are quite specific to my interests. They can be purchased through this site: pooleyswordpublishing.blogspot.com/

I don't have personal experience with any of the books, but other collectors who have these books are not overly enthusiastic about them. I imagine they'll have some unique photos, but as far as information Robson cannot be beat! The advantage of the titles you mention is that they are not too expensive.

Is there a particular area of British swords you are interested in collecting?

Because of the ivory insert? The hilt was made with a slot for the insert, which was further secured by pins. This is not a common feature, but this is how the inserts are fixed in every example I have seen. Based on the photos this looks like a nice untouched example.

Hi Jonathan,
Seeing I am just starting out....areas that interest me are:
Infantry and Cavalry swords but I think I will focus on swords that I can afford. I originally thought I would attempt to purchase and example of each of the Patterns available but I think that might be a bit ambitious. So that means probably swords made after 1800 to WW1 but I have started reading Robsons book and it just opens a big can of worms. Researching early swords is not as fulfilling if you can't actually own any of them and as I was saying before there is a distinct lack of available swords here in Australia so that means buying something from o/s sight unseen which causes angst.
I was looking at the swords in your collection that you loaded up on this site and officially started to burn with jealousy. If you ever decide to offload any of your lettle gems let me know.
I found a couple of articles that I thought I might upload that might be of interest to this forum but not sure how you do it? Is it the same as loading a photo?
Cam

One of the sayings I have seen repeated numerous times in the Antique & Military Sword Forum at SFI is "buy the best you can afford". For me that means fewer purchases per year, but very worthwhile and rewarding purchases. For others it may mean that they spend whatever is left at teh end of the month after bill shave been paid.

I, too, had (and maybe still have) the goal of collecting an example of each of the British sword patterns. This is achievable over time. Some patterns are more rare and will be difficult to find at an affordable price or in good condition, but that is all part of the hobby. At some point I'll may try for a "at least one of each" type of collection, but at the moment Victorian and later military swords are what I'm after.

Named examples (meaning swords that either bear the original owner's name or initials, or Wilkinson swords with researchable serial numbers) are quite a lot of fun because one can be a historical sleuth and uncover the swords forgotten history and the biographies of their original owners.

Peter Busch (sp) from SFI lives in Australia and could probably point you in the direction of some Australian dealers and specialist shows and fairs. If you have questions about dealers from the UK or US feel free to PM me and I'll do my best to find you an answer.