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Presentation Sword

Hilt by an unidentified goldsmith, mounted by the workshop of Veuve Guilmino, Versailles

Not on view

In 1780 Louis XVI presented this sword to John Paul Jones, a Scottish-born seaman and one of the founders of the American Navy, after he defeated the fifty-gun British frigate Serapis. References to the donor and the recipient decorate the pommel and grip—among them the French coat of arms; reeds; the figures of Neptune; Mars, and Minerva; military motifs; and emblems of the Franco-American Alliance.

Presentation Sword, Hilt by an unidentified goldsmith, mounted by the workshop of Veuve Guilmino, Versailles, Sword: partly blued steel, gold hilt; scabbard: black-painted leather and gold; case: wood covered with morocco leather with gold tooling and lined with chamois; brass, French

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Image courtesy of the U.S. Naval Academy Museum

Presentation Sword, Hilt by an unidentified goldsmith, mounted by the workshop of Veuve Guilmino, Versailles, Sword: partly blued steel, gold hilt; scabbard: black-painted leather and gold; case: wood covered with morocco leather with gold tooling and lined with chamois; brass, French
Presentation Sword, Hilt by an unidentified goldsmith, mounted by the workshop of Veuve Guilmino, Versailles, Sword: partly blued steel, gold hilt; scabbard: black-painted leather and gold; case: wood covered with morocco leather with gold tooling and lined with chamois; brass, French

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