late fathers knife

[gtinc]

would like to know idenity of it please

[Jim McDougall]

Qtinc,
Most unusual! This is a fascist officers 'pugnale d'ordinanza' from c.1935, of Mussolini's forces. Note the Italian fasces emblem. The 'fasces' was an interesting form of 'weapon' in itself...a ceremonial emblem of power borne before the Roman magistrates, made up of a bundle of rods as a haft for an axe head (fascis= bundle or pack, Latin).
Examples of these can be seen in "Armi Bianchi Militari Italiane 1814-1950" by Cesare Calimandrei, Firenze, 1987, p.175, figs. 1,2,3.

Best regards,
Jim

[Montino Bourbon]

Yep, Jim McDougall is right... I remember seeing one of these first-hand in Italy; it had been owned by my friend's father, who was an officer in the Italian army in ww2.

[Battara]

Yep, I'm with the facists. Well, not actually with the Facists. What I mean is that I agree with the Facist attribution. Well not agreeing with the Facists......Never mind. :p

[Mark]

Can you believe that they even managed to make the eagle on the pommel look like Mussolini?

If anyone has been to the pre-WW2 sports arena in Rome (near Ponte Milvio), which is lined with statues of various buffed athletes in heroic poses, you might remember that most of them have Il Duce's head stuck on the body(!).

[Battara]

Yup, like Hitler, Il Duce was a humble man. :rolleyes:

[Radu Transylvanicus]

Agreed and guaranteed , Italian and fascist dagger , like the others mentioned already.
Still I have to mention that this is quite avant-gardistic design for those years , Italians have always got the fashion one step ahead. Look at the handle, so Art Nouveau / Gotham City , dont you think ?