Arms Identification Service

Identify Swords, Knives, Bayonets,
Firearms, Guns, Polearms, and other Weaponry of the World

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Arms and Armor of the World
Identification Help
updated October 9, 2009

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Additionally, if there is anything that you would like to see on the following pages - in a weaponry identification sense - please feel free to request such and I will try to add additional information as soons as possible.
Please note - buying an item or sending funds does not guarantee a response. Due to overwhelming response to this website, I may not answer direct; I may simply post new material on the website in hope that will answer your question(s).

If you E-mail or snail-mail any images to me for use in identification of an item, I reserve the right to use - without further contact - those images on my website, without compensation to you (other than my efforts to assist you, however minimal the result may actually be).
Please do not send single e-mail image files larger than 500kb, or no larger than 2mb total for multiple images; I will not open them.
Do not send images in compressed file format(s) such as ZIP extension files; once again, I will not open them.
Send image(s) in JPG/JPEG format only.

Research materials I have available are quite substantial; however, on some items, information within those materials might be quite sparse. If you choose to snail-mail images, please make sure you have copies or your originals retained for yourself. We do not return images in any format and they become the property of Arms to Armor - The History Store without compensation to you for any use - past, present, or future.

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The History Store
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Llano, Texas 78643

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On to the good stuff!
This page is broken down into two basic sections:

The topic of the first section is:

"What Can I Help You Identify?".

Here you will find the images and information required to identify various types of Arms and Armor. My forte' is edged weaponry, mainly swords and bayonets (collector for thirty years), so this is where I focus most of my attention.

The topic of the second section is:

"Can You Help Me Identify This?".

The following images and descriptions will be various types of Arms and Armor that I cannot positively identify and require further assistance in confirmation. I thank you for your assistance in advance.

Hope this proves beneficial for both of us!

List of General Reference Books:

Naval Edged Weapons: In the Age of Fighting Sail 1775-1865

Boarders Away, Volume I: with Steel

Pattern-Welded Blade: Artistry In Iron

The art of the sabre and the epee,

Swords in colour: Including other edged weapons

Small Arms Makers: A Directory of Fabricators of Firearms, Edged Weapons, Crossbows and Polearms

Records of the Medieval Sword

Swords of the Viking Age

The Sword in the Age of Chivalry

Swords and Other Edged Weapons

Edged Weapons

The Metallography of Early Ferrous Edge Tools and Edged Weapons (BAR British series)

Clandestine Edged Weapons

Book of Edged Weapons

Military edged weapons of the world: 1880-1965, a private collection

Illustrated catalogue of the unrivalled collection of rare antique and modern pistols, revolvers, guns, swords, crossbows, and edged weapons American and foreign,

Martin B. Retting 5851 Washington Blvd. Culver City, Cal.: Antique and Modern Guns / Edged Weapons / War Relics

Catalogue of Antique Firearms, Armour and Edged Weapons, Tuesday, 14th March, 1978

Pocket guide to bayonets and miscellaneous edged weapons

Guns & Ammo Guidebook to Knives & Edged Weapons

Edged weapons: A collector's guide

Edged Weapons (Signature)

Price Guide to Antique Edged Weapons (Price Guide Series)

Discovering edged weapons (Discovering)

A Collectors Guide to Swords, Daggers, and Cutlasses

Swords and Hilt Weapons

Swords and Other Edged Weapons

Country of Origin vs. Region of Origin

If you have been wondering how to tell if a weapon - gun, knife, sword, etc. (or other collectible) - was manufactured before or after a certain date? Well, here is a quick reference for you. Look specifically for any markings such as a country or region of manufacture:

Region, no Country of Origin = if it is marked (stamped, etched, inscribed, etc.) with a region only - for example, such as Sheffield, Solingen, Toledo, or Philadelphia - without a country of origin, it was most likely manufactured before 1891 (example, "SHEFFIELD" or perhaps, "SOLINGEN").
Country of Origin, with or without Region = if it is marked (stamped, etched, inscribed, etc.) with a country of origin - for example, such as England, Germany, Spain, or USA - it is generally accepted the manufacture date is after 1890 (example, "ENGLAND" or "SHEFFIELD, ENGLAND", "GERMANY" or "SOLINGEN, GERMANY", "SPAIN" or "TOLEDO, SPAIN"). This does not necessarily apply to items that were obviously not intended for export (such as with military weapons and supplies).
Made In [Country of Origin], with or without Region = if it is marked (stamped, etched, inscribed, etc.) with the words "MADE IN" before the country of origin (for example, such as "MADE IN ENGLAND" or perhaps "MADE IN GERMANY"), it is generally accepted as being manufactured after about 1930. This does not necessarily apply to items that were obviously not intended for export (such as with military weapons and supplies).

The reason for this is due to the McKinley Tariff of 1890, effective March of 1891, and subsequent acts, amendments, and revisions. Section Six of this act outlines specifically:

"SEC. 6. That on and after the first day of March, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, all articles of foreign manufacture, such as are usually or ordinarily marked, stamped, branded, or labeled, and all packages containing such or other imported articles, shall, respectively, be plainly marked, stamped, branded, or labeled in legible English words, so as to indicate the country of their origin; and unless so marked, stamped, branded, or labeled they shall not be admitted to entry."

In this act are specifically mentioned -

CUTLERY -

165. Pen-knives or pocket-knives of all kinds, or parts thereof�Razors and razor- blades, finished or unfinished�
166. Swords, sword-blades, and side-arms�
167. Table-knives, forks, steels, and all butchers', hunting, kitchen, bread, butter, vegetable, fruit, cheese, plumbers', painters', palette, and artists' knives of all sizes, finished or unfinished...

FIRE-ARMS -

169. Muskets and sporting rifles�
170. All double-barrelled, sporting, breech loading shot-guns�Single- barrel breech-loading shot-guns�Revolving pistols�pistols.

There are always unique exceptions to this rule. For example, older antique swords imported from Mexico are commonly stamped with the word MEXICO on the ricasso of the blade; this does not mean post-1890 manufacture. It is quite clear these stamps are not contemporaneous to the blade and it is also quite clear that Mexican swords would not be stamped in English if for Mexican military use. We commonly find both R.M. or Republica Mexicana along with the stamping MEXICO. Swords so marked are generally accepted as early Mexican manufacture, later sold as surplus and exported to English-speaking countries (mainly the USA). Items marked MADE IN MEXICO or HECHO EN MEXICO are always modern manufacture, generally post-1930.
Items marked "MADE IN" such as "MADE IN INDIA" are always considered modern manufacture, generally post-1930.
Also, with many changes in countries politically, items marked, for example - "WEST GERMANY" - were manufactured bewteen 1949 and 1990 (the period between the Cold War division of Germany in 1949 and the reunification in 1990). For a further example, items marked "PAKISTAN" or "MADE IN PAKISTAN" were manufactured after 1947, the year when Pakistan was formed.

Shortly after the Tariff of 1890 was enacted by the United States of America, the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks of April 14, 1891 was entered into by the industrialized nations. The reasons for this agreement are outlined in Article I:

[Establishment of a Special Union. Filing of Marks at International Bureau. Definition of Country of Origin]

(1) The countries to which this Agreement applies constitute a Special Union for the International registration of marks.
(2) Nationals of any of the contracting countries may, in all the other countries party to this Agreement, secure protection for their marks applicable to goods or services, registered in the country of origin, by filing the said marks at the International Bureau of Intellectual Property (hereinafter designated as �the International Bureau�) referred to in the Convention establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization (hereinafter designated as �the Organization�), through the intermediary of the Office of the said country of origin.
(3) Shall be considered the country of origin the country of the Special Union where the applicant has a real and effective industrial or commercial establishment; if he has no such establishment in a country of the Special Union, the country of the Special Union where he has his domicile; if he has no domicile within the Special Union but is a national of a country of the Special Union, the country of which he is a national.

This outlined what must be marked on certain commodities to protect the manufacturer in the country of origin. The Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks has subsequently been revised over the many years since.

The Six-Pointed Star

I am occasionally bombarded with questions concerning the so-called "Star of David" mark on the ricasso of some swords.
According to one source, "...all evidence suggests that the early use of the hexagram was limited to 'practical Kabbalah,' that is, Jewish magic, probably dating back to the 6th Century C.E." [Current Era, is a recent scientific term, previously known as A.D. - Anno Domini or Year of our Lord; the term B.C. - Before Christ was concurrently transformed by science to B.C.E. - Before Current Era].
Legends connect this symbol with the "Seal of Solomon," the magical signet ring used by King Solomon to control demons and spirits. Although the original ring was inscribed with the Tetragrammaton, the sacred Four-Letter Name of God, medieval amulets imitating this ring substituted the hexagram or pentagram..."
My own research has led me to only one instance of this symbol being mentioned in the Bible, in which it was referred to as "...the Egyptian Seal of Solomon."

Nonetheless - when asked - my opinion and reply has always been, "this is not the 'Star of David' in the religious sense, but simply the 'Star of Damascus' (this location being Damascus, Syria), an ancient blade-making center of high quality blades. The 'Star of Damascus' is applied to sword blades in the nostalgic sense."
The Six-Pointed Star has also occasionally been considered one of the many Masonic symbols and often-times a symbol of war.

Another website involved in sword-making has a page on this as well. It is on the Marlow White Ceremonial Military Swords, FAQ: Six-Pointed Star page and I believe it closely concurs with my analyis above.

I found a another website, seriously dedicated to the research of this mark. I do not necessarily subscribe to the content - and do not endorse it - but if you wade through the religious rhetoric, it is quite informative. You can access it through this link: The Six Pointed Star. Once again, although I do not endorse the commentary, I have been asked so many questions about this "Star of David," I thought I would point you in a direction and let you draw your own conclusions on this matter.