A couple of daggers

[Ed]

We picked these up at an antique arms show and came across these daggers. They appealed greatly to my son so I picked them up. This is out of my area so I'd appreciate any thoughts that you might have.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/Incitatus/arms/Short1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/Incitatus/arms/ShortHilt.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/Incitatus/arms/Short2.jpg


Here is the other one

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/Incitatus/arms/Long1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/Incitatus/arms/LongHilt.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/Incitatus/arms/Long2.jpg

Thank you.

[Gavin Nugent]

:) :) ED? Who is this mysterious ED fellow :) :) Welcome back to the pages ;-)

Nice new looking indian daggers.

Gav

[Atlantia]

Hi Ed,
As Gav says, these are newly made, but rather nice.

[Battara]

Hi Ed,
As Gav says, these are newly made, but rather nice.
I agree with Alantia, these are newly made. The koftgari is the newer type and the damascus is the newer stuff that is coming out of India nowadays.

[Ed]

"New" as in, like, yesterday or a bit older than that?

[Battara]

New as in last year I'm afraid.

[ThePepperSkull]

I have always been enthusiastic about the koftgari work of today, but the pattern welding that apprears on the blades is something I am less enthused about.

Also, just for knowledge sake, the steel on these mewer made ones are generally softer than what would be seemed safe for actual combat or other practical use -- generally with a hardness of 40 HRC. Many blades considered useable are in between 50 and 60.


Still, you have a piece with some great looking koftgari/inlay work!

[ALEX]

"New" as in, like, yesterday or a bit older than that?

Hi Ed. The age for these items is irrelevant in my opinion. A year, five or a day is meaningless as these are souvenirs, not "real" weapons.
There are several artists selling them directly from India via eBay, with similar if not better quality. Sandeep is one of them and also a Forum member, and a great koftgari master.
P.S. hope you did not buy them as "antiques" as you mentioned you bought them on antique arms show.

[Ed]

Not antiques, just thinking that they were not yesterday.

The reason was simple: my son grabbed me and waxed ecstatic about them. I really never heard him go on about the beauty of an object before. Being an old behaviorist, I promptly reinforced his behavior. :D

So, as you can see, it really does not matter. They are attractive things and have weaned my son off of "Red Dragon Super Knife" type products.