Sword. A steel sword with a basket hilt decorated with punched hearts and dots, and cushioned with red felt. The blade is inscribed and decorated with scrolls, foliage and a depiction of St. Andrew.

ABDUA:10012

PROSPERITY TO SCHOTLAND* & NO UNION GOD SAVE KING JAMES VIII ( *Indicates German workmanship)

Sword, double-edged, Basket hilt constructed of round bars, junction plates pierced with 'key' pattern and incised with lines bordering the junction plate. Quillon with scrolled terminal. Flat domed pommel with four grooves forming a cross, the grooves bordered by incised lines, with petals between the arms of the cross. Grip covered with sharkskin wound in spiral with copper band. Blade with three fullers. Marked on one side: St Andreas* over a figure of St Andrew wearing a mitre* and holding a cross front. Marked on the other side: Head of King James (in style of a Roman Emperor) over Crown and Single sceptre resting on a cushion. On one side of the tang is the blade makers mark resembling a lion. There is some evidence to indicate the inscription was removed and restored at some later date. Similar swords after the Union of 1707, have two sceptres on the cushion and the inscription reads King James III. Therefore this blade is pre-1707.

LEMUR database; Mazansky 167; Mazansky, Cyril (forthcoming 2002), Basket-hilted Swords; Royal Armouries Museum; Beard, C R, Jacobite Sword Blades, Parts I and II, Connoisseur, September 1923; Trenchard, C, Jacobite Sword Blades, Parts I and II, The Antique Collector, Jan and March 1936

Object included in the 'Rebels with a Cause' exhibition shown initially at Holyrood (Scottish Parliament), Oct 2010 - Jan 2011, then at the New Library, University of Aberdeen in 2011 (opening exhibition). The exhibition featured items from Marischal Museum and Special Collections.

There is some evidence to indicate the inscription was removed and restored at some later date. Similar swords after the Union of 1707 have two sceptres on the cushion and the inscription reads King James III, therefore this blade is pre-1707

metal, steel, shark skin

Gordon, Alexander

L(overall): 1011mm, L(blade to hilt): 863mm W(blade at hilt): 38mm

Europe, Germany, Scotland