Edged Wpns Real or Faux? Help/Info requested on Confederate Bowie knife

Erwinn07

Cadet
Joined
Apr 17, 2021
Hello all -

Newbie here to the forum; go easy on me! :help: Seeking your knowledge, expertise and advice on a Civil War related item. Recently, a family member of mine bought a large ~19 inch bowie knife at an auction (see pics below) and I wanted to try and increase my knowledge of it for him. I'm not too familiar with Civil War era bowie knifes myself.

Markings on the blade are:

JACOB EASER or FASER possibly
MACON MISS
CSA
1863

Now, upon some quick research, I read that there was a Jacob Faser out of Macon Mississippi during the war that made swords and such for the CSA. He was a silversmith, blacksmith, etc. That's about all I know on the man. No idea if he made bowie knifes or not.

My personal opinion is that this is a repro that someone created far more recently. I believe there's no way this could be Civil War time frame and be in such good shape metallurgically speaking.

Can you kind folks please educate me? While I believe it's highly unlikely, could this be a real Confederate Bowie knife made during or around the war time? Or is it, as I believe, a nicely made repro/fake? This can't be the real thing right? Appreciate any info and/or input - Thanks guys.

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A sure clue to the spuriousness of this piece is the totally MODERN letters used to stamp the inscription on the blade - they look nothing like Civil War-era letters. Another is that this shows no evidence of 160 years of aging.

Welcome to the forums!
 
If you want to see what actual CSA Bowie knives looked like, Google Blockade Runner Modern Greece cargo. The Modern Greece ran aground close offshore in North Carolina. Much of her cargo was discovered sealed in sediment at a depth of about 50’. Among the thousands of items recovered were boxes of knives. The Bowie knives were Green River pattern knives with clipped points.

I saw a Chicago Cutlery Green River pattern knife at the grocery store last week. It is a pattern that has withstood the passage of time. Giant oversized fighting knives were all the rage in 1861. They looked very ferocious in photographs. It did not take many miles of hard marching for the roadside to be scattered with fighting knives, pistols, breast plates & other decorator items of no earthly use to a soldier.
 
Unfortunately, this knife is a complete fake. I may step on some toes here, but truth is there are NO known knives from this period with brass backs. Yes this also includes the Musso knife, as it was made in the 1970’s. It was NEVER owned by James Bowie and it was NEVER at the Alamo.
 
As a blacksmith, I have seen a pickup load of supposed Bowie fighting knives hammered out. Each one clunkier that the next. I thought it might be useful to post some images of actual fighting knives designed to kill people with.

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Who wants to take on this thing?

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These have both a pointy end & a smash you up the side of the head end.
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You are invited to explain what the purpose of the two blades on the far right is.

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In the left center of this case of Medieval weapons is the knife that Mr. Bowie invented.

Images by the author from French military museum Hotel des Invalides, Paris, France.


 
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You really think he invented it? Well since you thought that was a Bowie knife I guess I’m not surprised. He made it famous but we don’t even know what the knife looked liked that he used, only it was a large butcher knife.
 
You really think he invented it? Well since you thought that was a Bowie knife I guess I’m not surprised. He made it famous but we don’t even know what the knife looked liked that he used, only it was a large butcher knife.
Obviously, given the content of my posts in this thread, I am very familiar with the history, legends surrounding clip point knives & the innumerable “Bowie” knives that claim to follow his pattern.
 
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