tiffany civil war sword
Henry wager halleck civil ward sword. Tiffany made 925 out of 1000. Given to him March of 1862. Inscriptions on sword say, US, E pluribus unum, granted to cut wrought iron, Tiffany & co quality 925-1000, presented to major gen h w halleck by the ladies of St. Louis, MO March 1862. One side of the sword is a flat back, it is in its scabbard sheath for holding. Halleck was by Abraham Lincoln’s side as he died and was one of his pallbearers.
we found it in a house we own hidden in the attic.
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Good evening, Gina,
Thank you for contacting Mearto with your appraisal inquiry.
This is a really interesting sword!
925/1000 is the amount of silver per 1000ths and the standard for sterling silver, which is also denoted as .925. It is a higher content of silver than German silver, which was just 800/1,000 or .800. You will also see some silver as 825 or 850...it doesn't have anything to do with the number of swords that were made.
The market for Civil War presentation swords varies tremendously, based on a number of factors including but not limited to the importance/notoriety of the person receiving the sword, the manufacturer, condition and provenance.
Tiffany is an excellent name generally speaking but some would argue they were only decorative swordsmiths, this was never meant to have been used in battle, which typically bring considerably higher prices at auction.
Henry Wager Halleck is a good name, but unless one is a Civil War scholar, I am not sure how famous he is.
If you opt to sell this, I would recommend working with an auction house that holds dedicated sales of Civil War militaria as this is a particularly nuanced field and you would benefit from specialized expertise and client base.
Based on photographs and information provided, and subject to examination, this is:
A Civil War Sterling Silver Presentation Sword and scabbard
presented to Henry Wager Halleck (1815-1872) in March 1862, by the Ladies of St. Louis, MO
[DIMENSIONS]
CONDITION: Not examined in person
PROVENANCE: inherited
$4,000-8,000*
*represents a fair-market value for auction purposes; retail or asking price may vary. The following auction results have been used to research the fair-market value of your sword:
($4,100) https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/civil-war-silver-hilted-presentation-sword-62f41ef8df
($3,250) https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/rare-and-desirable-1860-officer-s-presentation-sa-b7b4d38b89
($9,200) https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/tiffany-gilded-silver-general-staff-officer-s-swo-756425aa6e
Please let us know if you have additional items to appraise, and thank you for using Mearto.
Gina,
Thank you for the additional information; typically, clients submit as much information as they have/know about the piece.
Because Mearto valuers have not had the opportunity to examine pieces in person, we do err on the side of caution and our valuations tend to be conservative.
In light of this new information, I have amended the value on this to $12,000-18,000.
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I would like to know how you came up with this value without looking into who he was? He was one of Abraham Lincolns pallbearers, married Alexander Hamilton’s daughter, they have a statue erected for him in California and also has a street named after him there as well. He was a major general. To get a true value I would think you would have to do some research on this guy. He was obviously someone of much importance. Look him up in Wikipedia.