Scimitar which belonged to Captain Edward Crofton (active 1804-1812). The hilt is of the 'Mameluke' type, with a polished amber horn grip in two parts, straight quillons with swollen and pointed ends, narrow pointed langets and reverse langets, striated back-piece between the two parts of the grip continued over the pommel reaching to the leading quillon, rounded pommel pierced for a sword knot (pieces of which remain). All the metal parts of the hilt are of silver, the quillons & langets being decorated with scrolls & bearing a crescent at the mid-point on each side. The quillons are engraved on the top with 'Captain Edward Crofton R.N.' and underneath with 'Remember Nelson'. The very restricted part of the sword knot which remains is apparently of a type appropriate to the Royal Navy.

The blade is flat backed, very curved, single edged, lightly 'watered' and of the 'Damascus' type. The blade is entirely free from any engraving. The scabbard is wood, covered with fabric and bearing slight traces of an additional cover. The top locket is in two parts incorporating a suspension ring, the mid locket also incorporating a ring and chape all of decorated in silver. The top locket is slit for 6 in. to facilitate drawing and sheathing the very curved blade. There is an ornamental stud in lieu of a shoe. The scabbard is decorated with a design of scrolls incorporating the crescent similar to that on the guard. The design is found six times on the chape, with the crescent reversed; once, on the mid locket and once on the lower part of the top locket with the crescent in its proper position; and twice on the top half of the top locket with the crescent again reversed. The top locket has an indentation to the pointed langet and the lower extremity of that indentation is marked by an escallop. Additional decoration throughout emphasises the line of each part of the scimitar.

There seems to be no justification for the earlier assumption that this sword was surrendered to Nelson by the Dey of Tunis after the Battle of the Nile in 1798, indeed the Dey would probably have been delighted by the French defeat. The engraving on the quillons refers to an officer of the Royal Navy about whom little can be said. Crofton became a Lieutenant on 19.3.1804, a Commander on 12.1.1805 and a Captain on 4.3.1811. He was concerned in the war with the United States in 1812 and led a landing party before Baltimore after the attack on Washington. He does not seem to have served in the Mediterranean, so far as can be judged, after his promotion to Captain, in any of the Navy's operations against the Algerian pirates, Levantine pirates or Turks in which circumstances he might well have obtained the scimitar. One possibility is that he obtained it in America as those Americans who particpated in the attack on Derna some years before made a practice of wearing captured Arab etc. weapons for some time after their return to the United States. This is, however, pure conjecture.