KøbenhavnskeSværdfegereTreAarhundreder_1957

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E N G L I S H S U M M A R Y

is the dominating figure. The third gene­ ration o f this efficient family, Jacob Kopper, in his turn worked for King Frederik IV between 1 7 1 6 and 17 2 6 . The king’s golden broadsword in Rosenborg may be the very broadsword for which Jacob Kopper was paid 679 Rixdollars in 1 7 1 9 . He also worked a good deal for the army but seems to have emigrated to the West Indies after the great fire o f Copenhagen in 17 2 8 . His two sons, Jacob Jacobsen Kopper and Hans Christian Kopper, o f whom the latter is mentioned as sword-cutler in the Royal Armoury 1759 - 60 , are less outstanding figures than the three first generations o f the family. The second great family o f sword-cutlers, the Plockross family, is first mentioned in 1703 when Johannes Plockross, who was also a brewer, took out his licence as sword- cutler. He was the first sword-cutler in the 1 8 th century to be given the official title o f sword-cutler to the King. He had submitted a petition asking for this title after the fire in 17 2 8 , appealing to the K in g’s pity with the victims o f the fire, among whom was Plock­ ross himself. When he died in 1738 he was a prosperous man, but he does not appear to have done so much work for the King as e.g. Jorgen Neuhaus or Caspar Ronnow. His son, however, became the finest o f all the Copen­ hagen sword-cutlers o f the great century. His name was Niels Christian Plockross and, in 17 4 2 , he applied for his father’s title as sword- cutler to the King, urging that he had travel­ led abroad. He may have been one o f the Copenhagen journeymen o f the sword-cut­ lers’ guild who are referred to in a Royal decree o f 1736 dealing with a complaint con­ cerning the failure o f the guilds in Hamburg and Lubeck to acknowledge. As Royal sword-cutler, N . Chr. Plockross executed over thirty more or less luxurious pieces o f silver and gold, some o f which are still kept

in Rosenborg. He did very little work o f m i­ litary character but, when he did, obtained excellent results, e.g. the silver sword for officers o f the Royal Guard, 1747 (Plate 9 ) and the Horse-Guards officers’ broad-sword 1772 (Plate 8 , 1 ), the latter probably being the result o f a close collaboration with his son, Frederik Plockross. This son did not succeed him as Royal sword-cutler, a member o f the Weidenhaupt fam ily being preferred. Frede­ rik Plockross made the pattern for an officer’s sabre in 1789 and died in 1790 . His w idow married the sword-cutler Frederik Meyer who continued the workshop until 1 8 1 2 . The Weidenhaupt fam ily came to Den­ mark with Johan Christian Weidenhaupt who was born at Breslau about 1694 and took out his licence as a sword-cutler in Copenhagen in 1 7 2 1 . He died in 1742 and his w idow mar­ ried the sword-cutler Johan Christian Herrig who, for more than twenty years, managed a flourishing business as furnisher and contrac­ tor for military side-arms. Among the sons o f Johan ChristianWeidenhaupt, the eldest, who was his father’s namesake, succeeded N . C. Plockross as sword-cutler to the King about 1 7 7 3 . The younger, Peter Weidenhaupt, took over Herrig’s business in 1764 . Peter W ei­ denhaupt was the last private sword-cutler who was an important military supplier, as the manufacture o f the Hammermollen near Kronborg gradually increased its production. The activity o f J. Chr. Weidenhaupt the Younger as Royal sword-cutler was less im­ portant than that o f his predecessor, because the demand for small swords by the court steadily decreased towards the end o f the century. Besides the deliveries o f the court sword- cutler, the Royal accounts mention gold­ smiths and different dealers who were from time to time paid considerable sums for pre­ cious swords. In some cases, too, a new ma