1840/1906 Hollywood Frankensword

As I mentioned in last week’s post, Western Costume Company was the major supplier of costumes to the big name studios during Hollywood’s golden era. Back then, it bought surplus swords rather than manufacture reproductions for props. They had no problem altering swords or swapping out parts to fit whatever place or era the film was set in.

The most peculiar thing about this sword is the blade. It’s a US Model 1906 sword blade made by “A.S.Co.” (Ames Sword Company), complete with the “US” and inspectors mark “JC” (J. Clancy) on the other side. But those blades were curved like previous US cavalry sabers, and this one is straight! Here’s the weird thing – Western Costume actually found it worthwhile to have a bunch of curved sword blades straightened! If you look closely at the final photo, you can see how the blade warped in the process! I’m sure milling and labor costs would be prohibitive for that today. I can’t find the reference anymore, but I recall reading that this was done for a film that depicted a WWI cavalry charge. (Cavalry swords used on both sides were straight by then.)

The 1906 sword also had a steel, rather than brass hilt, which was shaped like the Model 1860 sword I previously posted. Western Costume replaced the steel hilt with a brass one, and in the process used the grips from and 1840 style saber. The leather is gone, but if you look closely, you can see some remaining string between the wire wrap. This was used under the leather in the 19th century to give the grip its raised bumps between the wire wraps.