A Sword of British Poet Lord Byron / Auctions Imperial

[Jack Loomes]

A well-made example, apparently a privately-purchased British 1796 Heavy Cavalry Dress pattern, with finely fluted guard and pommel, and pierced and embellished clamshell guard, of copper with most original gilding intact, the wooden grip lacking its wire wrap. The straight, double-edged blade with central ridge, and an etched panel to either side. On the right, GEORGE BYRON, on the left, NEMO NISI MORS [No One Except Death {Will Part Us}]. Shortened to trophy length after its acquisition.Beginning of the 19th century.Age toning to blade. Overall length 61.5 cm. George Gordon Byron, Sixth Lord Byron, was one of England’s greatest Romantic Era poets. He led an adventurous, often dangerous, existence and at age 35 journeyed to Greece to join the revolution and fight the Ottomans. Given command over a brigade of Suliots, he was preparing an attack on the Ottoman stronghold of Lepanto, but died from a fever in Missolonghi on April 19, 1824. Byron’s passing was mourned throughout the world. He became a national hero to the Greeks and his renown as a poet grew in England, Europe and America. Robert Elgood, in his monumental work, The Arms of Greece and Her Balkan Neighbors in the Ottoman Period (N.Y., Thames & Hudson, 2009, p. 275 and 333,) notes three swords which are attributed to Lord Byron; all appear to be of the 1796 Heavy Cavalry Officer’s Dress type. This example alone bears Lord Byron’s name etched on the blade, together with a motto which is entirely consistent with his Romanticist philosophy and no doubt spoke to his love of Greece. Condition IV

Sold March 2014 $24,819 USD.

Source: www.auctionsimperial.com/