November 11, 2002
Gen. Houston's knife to remain in Texas

General Sam Houston's knife, the one he carried into battle at San Jacinto, which was being put up for auction, will remain in Texas thanks to an anonymous buyer from Dallas.


A Dallas man paid $270,000 for the historic knife at a California auction Sunday, sparing it from an uncertain future.

The knife had been a revered artifact in Texas, displayed at the San Jacinto Museum in La Porte for more than 60 years and at the Bob Bullock Texas History Museum in Austin.

Auctioneer John Gangel said the buyer was a collector of guns, knives, paintings and other Texas memorabilia who wished to remain anonymous.

The buyer said Houston's knife "will never leave Texas while I'm alive and it better not leave after I'm dead," Gangel said.

Gangel said the buyer has relationships with several Texas museums and lends his personal collection for display. Gangel said he is confident that Sam Houston's knife will be back in a Texas museum soon.


An anonymous benefactor from Dallas, eh? Hey, Scott, how do we know this wasn't you?

Posted by Charles Kuffner on November 11, 2002 to The great state of Texas | TrackBack
Comments

The only way to know for sure it wasn't me is my severe lack of a personal collection and the seeming absence of relationships with several museums. Never mind the missing $270K from my overflowing portfolio. None of this is easily documented, BTW.

I want to know how in the heck it ever left this great state. And my money is on one of the Perots actually stepping up and doing the right thing. They have a tendency to do that every now and then.

Posted by: Scott Chaffin on November 12, 2002 12:02 AM

I would like a picture of this great knife. Where can i get one? Thank You very much Jeff

Posted by: jeff rogers on April 23, 2003 7:21 PM

Recently while visiting with a couple of knife dealers in Ky. A long knife in a military type sheath showed up with the initials S. H. sandwiched around a star carved in it and bracketed with the year 1848. Since the knives that were dealt in were mainly from the early to mid 1800's Bowie knives Jules Coulsons etc. I thought it not unreasonable for this particular knife to have possibly been once owned by Sam Houston. If you have any information on this please let me know and I will get you in contact with the person who now possesses it. Please let me know soon as he is somewhat of a trader and the knife may not be his for long thank you robert

Posted by: robert balestraci on July 8, 2005 1:13 AM