Need info from AMES catalog

Jim McDougall · 15th December 2010, 07:28 PM

You bet Manolo! Im glad I could help. This book on "The American Fraternal Sword" is really an amazing source for these kinds of 'missing links' and anomalies. For many years these swords were pretty much tossed off as garage sale miscellania and stuff that turned up in among the frilly antiques in shops, largely ignored by serious weapons collectors.

I first saw an article in the original issue of "Man at Arms" magazine back in 1979 by John Hamilton on Masonic swords. It was so interesting and esoteric it always captivated me with all the symbolism (my favorite topic

. I filed it away for future reference and the swords moved back into the shadows (in the larger perspective, so enthusiasts easy!!).
However Joe Marino was undeterred and along with Mr. Hamilton and Jim Kaplan put together an incredibly comprehensive book and collections of these swords.

Just in researching this sword, I came across several examples of these variations of IOOF swords that are being represented as these rare Ecole de Mars swords online. It seems I had one of the IOOF examples once with the brass scaled hilt and remember not having a clue what it was, actually never thought of it until now. Usually all these type of unidentified items seem to have been regarded Confederate in those days....if nobody can identify it, it must be Confederate

I'll get the scan done later....ours which my wife was using heavily, went out valiantly in the surge of Christmas printing...so we are getting a new one as we speak.

All the best,
Jim

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15th December 2010, 07:28 PM	#6
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,200	You bet Manolo! Im glad I could help. This book on "The American Fraternal Sword" is really an amazing source for these kinds of 'missing links' and anomalies. For many years these swords were pretty much tossed off as garage sale miscellania and stuff that turned up in among the frilly antiques in shops, largely ignored by serious weapons collectors. I first saw an article in the original issue of "Man at Arms" magazine back in 1979 by John Hamilton on Masonic swords. It was so interesting and esoteric it always captivated me with all the symbolism (my favorite topic . I filed it away for future reference and the swords moved back into the shadows (in the larger perspective, so enthusiasts easy!!). However Joe Marino was undeterred and along with Mr. Hamilton and Jim Kaplan put together an incredibly comprehensive book and collections of these swords. Just in researching this sword, I came across several examples of these variations of IOOF swords that are being represented as these rare Ecole de Mars swords online. It seems I had one of the IOOF examples once with the brass scaled hilt and remember not having a clue what it was, actually never thought of it until now. Usually all these type of unidentified items seem to have been regarded Confederate in those days....if nobody can identify it, it must be Confederate I'll get the scan done later....ours which my wife was using heavily, went out valiantly in the surge of Christmas printing...so we are getting a new one as we speak. All the best, Jim