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Presentation Sword

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

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 899

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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