Society sword
A. Hay
Category
Arms and armour
Date
Unknown
Materials
Brass, Ivory, Leather, Steel
Measurements
114 mm (Width); 965 mm (Length)955 mm (Length)
Place of origin
Edinburgh
Order this imageCollection
Lanhydrock, Cornwall
NT 880836.1
Summary
Early 19th Century dress sword with etched steel blade, chased brass half hilt and an ivory and brass handle; in a red leather scabbard with brass end pieces. Made in Edinburgh by A. Hay. The ivory hand-grip of the sword is made in the form of a shaped 'barley twist'. Green corrosion marks in the valleys of the spiral suggest that there was once a gilt metal decorative wire wound around the ivory. There is a gilt metal finial at the top and a gilt metal hand guard at the bottom of the handle. The hand guard projects at each side, giving the handle the shape of a cross. The narrow, tapered blade has decoration and the maker's name "Hay, Edinburgh" etched on its surface.
Provenance
Gift of the Hon Victor Agar-Robartes, later 8th Viscount Clifden, (See 1972 inventory), the elder brother of the Hon. Gerald Agar-Robartes, later 7th Viscount Clifden,who gave Lanhydrock to the National Trust in 1953 and continued to live there until his death in 1966
Marks and inscriptions
(on blade) A. HAY/EDINBURGH
Makers and roles
A. Hay, maker