Can anyone help identify the maker and approximate date of this sword?
The sword was given to US Army Brig. Gen. Robert Swartwout, probably during the War of 1812, by US Navy Commodore Stephen Decatur. The sword had been taken by Decatur as a token of surrender from a Barbary pirate captain whose ship was captured by Decatur during the war with Tripoli in 1804.
Gen. Swartwout unfortunately changed the hilt so that he could use the sword as his personal dress sword. The sword passed down through the Swartwout family and I inherited it.
The sword is engraved with the "Spanish motto" "No Me Satues Sin Rason" and "No Me Enbaines Sin Honor." The engraving is nearly identical in appearance to that on the sword of Jeff D, whose sword is shown in the following thread:
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...=spanish+motto
The difference in the engraving is that, while Jeff's sword has a "sun and moon" motif attributed to Solingen, mine has a different motif that I can't describe in words, so I'll let the photos do the talking.
If anyone can identify the maker from the engraved motif, I would be most grateful. It's shown in the last photo below, and is the same on both sides of the sword.