UPDATED Spring 2021

The Bullock Silver

Aren't they pretty? This set of sterling silver has been handed down from Dan's great-grandfather, to his grandfather, to his father, and now to Dan.

There are 12 place settings, and 8 different pieces, for a total of 88 pieces (two pieces are missing, and there are only six of the demitasse spoons). It's made by Landers Frary & Clark, Aetna Works...we think in about the late 1880s.

There's custom engraving – "ELB" – for Edward Lippincott Bullock (Dan's father's father's father).
(Although some of the engraving sure looks like "EEB.")

The main set of knives has mother-of-pearl handles. You can just barely see, on the left, on the blade, the marking of Landers Frary & Clark, Aetna Works.

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My two antique swords and five antique bayonets

Here are the two swords on display in my study, with their scabbards – with one of the bayonets at the bottom – in a rack I built for them.

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Swords

The swords in these photos are special to me, because they've come down through my family. For as long as I can remember, my father had these swords hanging in his workshop in the basement. He told me, when he gave them to me, that they had belonged to his father, Edward L. Bullock, Jr. We don't know anything else about their actual history, but I've been able to learn some general information about each one.

The first is an U.S. Model 1860 Staff and Field Officer's Sword, with its scabbard. These were adopted by the U.S. Army in 1860, but only became standard in the 1870's. They were the authorized sword for all Army officers from 1872 to 1902.

This one is marked as having been manufactured by Horstmann, Philadelphia. One on-line source dates this marking as having been used from 1893...so this sword was likely manufactured between 1893 and 1902.

I've also learned that it was common for Horstmann and other sword makers to buy the blades from Germany. This blade is marked with a small image of a knight's head, which means the blade was made by Weyersberg, Kirschbaum, & Company, in Solingen, Germany.

It's a lovely sword, with very nice fine details etched into the blade.

It also has a lot of United States imagery in the details of the brass hilt.

Overall, it's in very good condition. The blade is slightly tarnished, but without any major corrosion. The hilt is superb, and the leather grip, though worn, is still in pretty good shape – especially for being at least 119 years old (in 2021).;

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The second is a US Model 1902 Army Officer's Saber, with its scabbard. It's hard to know exactly when this one was made...but it was in my parents' basement for 50 years!

Interesting trivia: this model of sword is still, to this day, the current regulation sword for U.S. Army officers...and also for U.S. Air Force officers! (So, I could wear it...)

The hilt has the polished nickel guard used on early swords, while later ones normally have plated steel guards.

It's in astonishingly good condition. A few small spots of slight pitting corrosion on the blade, but as you can see, very nice overall.

This one, too, has some very nice etched details in the blade.

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Bayonets

This is a French Model 1866 "Chassepot" Yataghan Sword Bayonet. It was designed to fit on the French Model 1866 Chassepot Rifled Infantry Musket (named for the designer).

The steel blade has what's called a "yataghan" shape (re-curved). For a bayonet it's very long.

It has a brass hilt and a steel crossguard (now very heavily corroded). The blade has a few areas of significant pitting corrosion, and the hilt shows evidence of actual military use, but overall - considering it's 147 years old (in early 2021) - it's in fairly good condition.

The blade is marked on the back edge with the arsenal, month, and year of manufacture, which is how I know exactly how old this one is. It says, "Mre d' Armes de St. Etienne 7bre (September) 1873." You can see the date in the photo above.

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Then we have this one, which is a somewhat more traditional-appearing bayonet. This is an Austro-Hungarian bayonet for the Steyr M1895 series of bolt action infantry rifles (the main rifles of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in World War I). It's somewhat unusual in design, by virtue of having the sharp edge on the upper side when mounted on a rifle.

The bayonet is marked "FGGY," which stands for the company Fémáru Fegyver és Gépgyár (Hungarian for "Hardware, Weapons, and Machine Factory"). This bayonet is obviously well used, and somewhat corroded, though all but a few deep pits seems to have polished out fairly well. The wood of the grip has darkened significantly with age, but I've been sanding it to get some of its color back.

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This one is a German M1884/98 Third Pattern Bayonet. It's in remarkably good condition (probably due to having been sheathed for at least the last 50 years!) There's a little bit of surface corrosion on the blued blade, but no serious damage.

It was designed for the Mauser K98, which was the standard service rifle of the German Wehrmacht throughout World War II. The blade is marked "43asw," which means it was manufactured in 1943, by E. & F. Hörster & Co. of Solingen.

(Click here to see an image of a 1940 German E. & F. Hörster poster!)

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This is a Model 1886/93/16 French Lebel rifle bayonet, designed for the French Lebel Model 1886 rifle (which had the distinction of being the first military firearm to use smokeless powder ammunition.) It has a cruciform cross section and a brass hilt. Probably made in 1916-1918 or so. Somewhat corroded on the blade, it has polished up reasonably well so far, though I'm not done with it yet.

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And then, finally, I have the bayonet that came with my 1943 Russian Mosin-Nagant rifle. Also a cruciform cross section, it ha no hilt, being designed solely for use on the end of the rifle. However, it does have use as a tool...the tip is a screwdriver!

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My two antique helmets

My antique helmets are also from my father, who hung them right behind his radial arm saw in his workshop. They had quite a layer of sawdust (maybe it protected them?), but they cleaned up nicely.

The green helmet in the picture above is a World War I (yes, "One") German helmet. It's a Model 1916 Stahlhelm (German for "steel helmet"), more than likely manufactured that year. It was the first metal helmet developed by the Germans, in response to the number of severe head wounds received in the trench warfare of WWI.

This one is in good basic mechanical condition (no dents), but poor cosmetic condition..I think the paint is original, but there isn't much left of it!

This second one, though, is a real prize! This white helmet is a World War II civil defense helmet, that belonged to my grandmother. The triangular insignia designates an Air Raid Warden, which is what my grandmother served as, in Washington DC. This helmet is in superb condition, with solid paint, an intact decal, no damage, and it even still has the internal suspension intact.

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You can see here the inscription to E.L. Bullock, who was my great-grandfather.

And the year it was given to him: 1887. This walking stick is in tremendously good condition, given its age.

And on the top, it has engraved, "From a Friend."

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Random antiques!

O.K., we did promise you some oddball things in the category of antiques. Thanks for your patience!

Werco Banjo Ukulele. This came from Gaye's father, and it's in excellent condition. As far as I can find out, all of them were manufactured with the blue metal-flake rim. It may or may not strictly be an antique (these were made through the 1960's), but it's a fun instrument to play with!

Gaye found this for Dan at a yard sale! It's a Kodak No. 2A Cartridge Hawk-Eye (Model B) box camera (built sometime about 1926-1933), and it looks like new! Pretty good for an 88+ year old (in 2021) camera that is basically a cardboard box (with a leatherette covering). It seems to be fully functional, too, but I'll never know for sure -- film isn't made for it any more. (Film...do you remember when people actually used film to take photos? No, me neither...)