Steel Rapier

Hand forged steel rapier with carved wooden grip and one groove on the blade. A Spanish style rapier, in a simple military style, with a cup hilt. Very old fabric tag attached with an illegible handwritten note. Sword acquired by Franklin D. Roosevelt in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, while he was Assistant Secretary of the Navy. In 1917, FDR was sent to the Caribbean to inspect the Marine operations in Haiti and Santo Domingo to determine whether the approaches to the Panama Canal were wholly secure. FDR Library Museum Collection, MO 1952.77.