Last night at our SCV meeting, I met Jared Reeves, who is quite a collector of Confederate items.  Now, anyone who knows anything about the Civil War at all know that Confederate relics are much more sought after than Union relics and are also almost always far more expensive.  Jared had two extremely rare items that he showed us last night.

The first was a Dance Brothers revolver. You can read about the Dance brothers here and here.  This is a .44 caliber and the rarest model of Confederate pistol. Reeves said that only 10 in any condition are known to exist. I don’t know many who have even seen a photograph of the pistol. Along with the pistol is a bullet mold, said to be as rare if not more rare than the pistol itself. I believe Reeves said that the Dance Brothers revolver competed with the Walker Colt (made for Texas Rangers)  in market value. That pistol is another story you should look up.

Dance Brothers Revolver

The second item he showed was a sword, made in Nashville by the College Hill Sword Works.   This company and Nashville Plow Works (Sharp & Hamilton) swords and other edged weapons. Both were only in existence for only a few months before Nashville fell. You can read about these companies and other Confederate manufacturers here: When I looked closely at the blade, I could see the First National Confederate flag engraved there. Here is a photo of the sword, the hilt, and a shot of CSA from a top angle. A very rare and expensive piece.

College Hill Sword Works