Masonic yataghan
length: 28"
Masonic "York Rite" style short sword with oversized yataghan-bayonet style blade. I
first saw a sword of this style in the early 1980's when a friend bought one
from a private collector. I was called upon to identify it, and couldn't
determine an exact origin. French, 1850-1880 was my best guess, and that
remained my best guess for close to 20 years of occasionally seing these
swords in collections and/or for sale - but I never ran into anyone who knew
what the heck it was. Everyone always listed it as an "unknown sword", and
was hoping that *I* could tell them what it was. Early 2001 I finally got a
response that made sense - this is a Masonic sword, used by the "York Rite"
Freemasons, and constructed (as I guessed) in the late 1800's. I'd
definetly appreciate it if any of you Yorkists out there could validate that
identification for me - I've done web searches using "York Rite" and "sword"
as base starting points and have found out all sorts of interesting things
about severed heads and bloody grails, but no positive id's showing another
example of this sword as being specifically Masonic.
blade: 22 3/4"
blade width: 1 1/4"
grip: 4 1/4"
guard: 4 3/4"
weight: 2 lbs 8 oz
03/05/02