1915 Swordsman Badge. Rock Island Arsenal. With Original Box and Saber Exercise Manual.
Badge: 52 mm x 15 mm. Bronze. SWORDSMAN with saber running through center of lettering. Silver saber with copper colored outline. Produced by Rock Island Arsenal in 1915. About Uncirculated. Box: 32 mm x 67 mm. simple cardboard box with paper label identifying the pin within. Split seams to all four corners of lid. Booklet: Saber Exercise, United States Army, 1914 exercise manual. Annotations are noted on the first page. Well used with foxing throughout and staining to covers. Interestingly, this badge was designed by (then) 2nd Lieutenant George S. Patton in 1914, and awarded only between 1914 and 1915. Patton also designed the course which was required to earn the badge. Issuance of the badge was dropped after the start of the Mexican Expedition and then entry into the First World War. Re-issuance started in 1920, but in 1921 the badge was replaced by a qualification bar which simply read "Sword" which would be affixed to the basic qualification badge. Very few of these were issued and they are extremely hard to come by today.

Estimate: $1500