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THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR SWORD OF CAPTAIN JAMES ADAMS

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:NA Estimated At:1,000.00 - 1,200.00 USD
THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR SWORD OF CAPTAIN JAMES ADAMS
Auctions Imperial is pleased to announce our 2013 sale, to be held March 16 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Timonium, Maryland. Over 300 lots of choice antique arms and armor including armor, helmets, shields, swords, daggers, battleaxes, maces, halberds, matchlocks, flintlocks and percussion pieces will be offered. Our fine selection for 2013 includes broadswords, baskethilts, shamshirs, shashkas, palas, kindjals, khanjars, tulwars and spears, as well as chain mail and breastplates. This sale will also include important swords and daggers from the Greek War of Independence and the armor of the K...
The hilt of gilded brass, displaying the staid elegance characteristic of the best Colonial American makers. With spherical pommel, and silver ferrules retaining the wooden grip with its original twisted copper wire wrap. The deep knucklebow, large rings with curled terminals and faceted quillon block all indicate the conservatism typical of Colonial work of the pre-Revolutionary period. The double-shell guard with raised rim terminating in curlicues, inscribed, CAPT. JAMES ADAMS 1763. The straight, double-edged blade of flattened hexagonal section, tapering continuously to the tip, with etched foliate panels at the forte. Edges retain considerable sharpness. Mid-18th century. Light wear, minor nicks. American colonist and patriot James Adams was born in Chester County, Pennsylvania on October 30, 1734; he would have been 29 or 30 when the sword was presented to him in 1763. In May of that year, Pontiac’s Uprising began, with mass attacks and killings among the Pennsylvania colonists by local Indians, in reaction to British policies following the French and Indian Wars. In October, 1763, John Penn was appointed Governor of Pennsylvania ; upon taking office, he immediately began raising a militia to protect the Pennsylvania Colony from the Indian attacks. James Adams was likely one of Penn’s recruits. According to the inscription, he achieved the rank of captain in that year, and may have received the sword in recognition by Penn himself, a likelihood well-supported by its quality of workmanship. Captain Adams would have been 41 years old at the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. He is recorded in the Second Series of Pennsylvania Archives as well as the Minutes of the Committee of Safety as Captain of the Fourth Company of the Fifth Battalion of the Cumberland County Associators [Volunteers] of the Pennsylvania Militia. Glenn Adams, noted journalist and descendent of Captain Adams, records in a 2005 Associated Press article that Captain Adams was an active recruiter of volunteers, who “summoned his men from the harvest field.” In 1777, his unit acted as reinforcements to the Continental Army. He served in the Philadelphia area that year and in 1778 was sent to Bald Eagle, where he and the Fourth Company engaged the Indians, probably due to his combat experience with them 15 years earlier. The Journals of the Continental Congress record that Captain Adams was allocated 112 pounds 5 shillings to provide for his company’s march. The Miffin County Historical Society noted that Captain Adams played an important role in the Revolution. After a long and eventful life, Captain James Adams passed away in October, 1824, at age 89 or 90, the father of 13 children. We are indebted to Mr. Glenn Adams for his kind cooperation in the preceding research. His article may be accessed here: http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1876&dat=20050530&id=HzsfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ZdAEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7038,5241399 Overall length 90 cm.
Condition II