Photos WC Lilley Knights of Pythius sword real or knock-off?

[StudentOfLife]

Howdy, I inherited this blade from my brother and have learned a lot about the Knights of Pythius and WC Lilley. However, I'm suspicious of the maker's mark and the condition of the sword/scabbard. If it was indeed made in the 1860s-70s, I'd expect more condition issues, and having looked at at least 100 maker's marks, all were more professional looking in my opinion. It is a great looking sword, I'd like to find out if I have a piece of history or a well-made piece of contemporary reproduction.
Thank you.
Well, this is strange. I can't upload an image of the mark or sword. The site only gives me options for links to online images. Let me ask if anyone knows if WC Lilley ever had a maker's mark with "Columbus, O." rather than the much more common "Columbus, Ohio"?

 

[tltt]

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Another -

https://www.icollector.com/Model-18...and-metal-scabbard-by-M-C-Lilley-Co_i19848254 .

And another -

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[horseclover]

If it is The M.C.Lilley & Co. . Yes, Columbus Ohio and the company also acquired the Henderson-Ames Sword Company.

With the sword so marked with 'The', that would put it between 1882-1925. Just M.C.Lilley&Co. between 1865-1882.

History of Lilley sword company.

The Mitchell C lilley, M C Lilley & co, the M C Lilley & co, the lilley co, the Lilley-Ames co and the Lilley Ames co made swords from 1865 until 1953.

web.archive.org

You could share some more images to confirm it is a Knights of Pythias sword.

Cheers
GC

You can upload images to imgur.com, or another host and share images.

 

[Hanne762]

There are many fraternal swords out there and I doubt it's a fake. They're really not that valuable, near perfect examples go for more than $3-400 with rare exceptions. They never saw much use and almost all were put away carefully by families thinking they'd someday be worth a lot of money. You can find lots of them on the bay, just look up "fraternal sword".

 

[Triton]

There are many fraternal swords out there and I doubt it's a fake. They're really not that valuable, near perfect examples go for more than $3-400 with rare exceptions. They never saw much use and almost all were put away carefully by families thinking they'd someday be worth a lot of money. You can find lots of them on the bay, just look up "fraternal sword".

This. People can and do fake some odd things I guess, but in this case there is so little point I don't see why anyone would bother. It would be like faking a daisy BB gun.