AMERICAN SECRET SOCIETY SWORD

Knights of Friendship, a relatively small and obscure secret society founded by Dr. Mark Kerr in 1859. The popularity of secret societies in America expanded after the Civil War making this one of the earliest. The plated hilt has an arrow cluster among sun, moon, and stars, and globe form pommel with a C on each side (significance unknown). Black japanned grip. The blade is 28 ½” in length, double-edged and excellent. The plated scabbard retains its suspension chains with high relief figure of a 3/4 armor atop a cross through a crown. That last is a Masonic symbol and it is known that Kerr was a Mason, suggesting that the Knights of Friendship, like other know groups, was an auxiliary of the Free Masons.