British 1804 Pattern Naval Cutlass

Description

In 1804 the British Board of Ordnance ordered 10,000 cutlasses of a pattern provided by
Henry Osborn. Most of these were manufactured between 1804 and 1816. They were
issued to the ships, rather than to individual sailors, and were generally stored in racks, thus
there was no need for a scabbard. Some examples were provided a scabbard, but few
survive, as most were either discarded or wore out in the harsh saltwater conditions. It
featured a black-painted iron figure-eight shaped guard and iron horizontally ribbed iron grip
with an additional 6 narrow vertical grooves. Stout 29 1/4″ straight unfullered single-edged
blade with spear point; this example deeply stamped with crowned GR cypher and a smaller
crown over “4″; the blade spine stamped with maker’s name “BATE”. Thomas Bate of
Birmingham was a silversmith, gunmaker, toymaker, and swordmaker, having contracts with
the Board of Ordnance during the Napoleonic Wars. Very good condition, the blade with
scratches and several shallow edge nicks; hilt repainted at some point and showing a few
small chips in the paint. Overall length 33 3/4″.