Poiniard? Stilleto? Naval dirk?
 

I bought this dagger a while back. It was billed as a naval dirk and it very well may be. First off, description:

The piece measures 18" total length, of which 14 1/2" is blade (hilt is only 3 1/2"!). The long thin blade has a keen edge and a wicked point. You will see from the pics that the blade is diamond-shaped in profile. The guard is cruciform in shape, has a metal ferrel and the quillons have interesting balled ends. The rest of the grip beyond the ferrel piece is carved horn (including the pommel) and made in an interesting fluted pattern. The tang is peened and has a little end cap at th pommel.

OK, so what is it? Most stilletos were all steel and from an earlier period. I woul date this piece to 18th c. pretty solidly. Let me start off by saying despite appearing 'dainty', this dagger could easily run a man through. The reinforced diamond blade would piece through thick clothing no problem.

A case for it being a naval dirk comes from several angles. First off, naval dirks were carried by midshipmen for most of the navies of the period. The dirk served several functions; as a weapon of last means in close combat and as a symbol of rank and status. This dirk could deliver a nasty wound or even kill a man and it has just enough design/decoration to please the eye. Many dirks were no more than fancy dress pieces and not meant for true combat. This sleek weapon seems to walk that line between dress and a true defensive weapon.

The other factor one must consider is the little grip! It appears this piece was made for a very small hand indeed. The young officers aboard a naval vessel were in training to become true officers and commanders some day and could be as young as ten years old!(Gilkerson, 'Borders Away') If not made for a young midshipman, than who? My daughter has small hands and even she had to grip tight not to drop it.

So, other questions. Country of origin? American? French? Has anyone seen another dirk/dagger like this? I've seen several plain swords with similar cruciform hilts attributed to Portugal, but not even sure of those sword's origins are corect. Someone else suggested that it could be a 'gunner's dirk' to prick the powder once it's in the barrel, but the blade has no measuring marks. I am open to opinions either way-

A similar naval dirk pattern-
 

Here is a French pattern naval dirk ca. 1795-1810 with the 'propeller' quillons.

Your dagger looks very much like a Misericorde Mark.

I like the way you think, Rick- ;)

Having looked over some of the past posts on Misericordes, along with close cousins like the so-called 'Gunner's daggers', I would say it is a distinct possibility. I was guessing at the age of the dagger, so it could easily be a century older than I first thought (17th versus 18th).

https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/a...6-a61a00976aa9

I also understand that there was a resurgence of Misericordes in Victorian times, but most of those were extremely embellished/decorated and typically not 'working models' (blunt edges), like the ritual Satanist daggers coming out of France during the 19th c. I am out of my league on this one and will have to do some research on these types. Thank you so much for the (potential) lead. I will say that to back up your theory, mine does have the cruciform hilt and the diamond-shaped blade would easily punch through thin sheet metal I think...
Mark

Here's a French or Italian one from c.1550.
 

It is interesting that the hilt on this one is shaped similar to mine and made of horn. Also the similarity in the blade. This one shorter than mine at 16".

And another!
 

Rick, I think you hit it on the head! Here's another listed as 17th c. with an eerily similar hilt to mine!

Well, it may not be very interesting, but judging from the stringy aspect of that horn and the deep, warm, chatoyant honey colour, I'd say it's likely some sort of sheep/ram horn.

Just to confuse things further Mark, artillery men, or gun captains at sea used goose quills packed with powder to shove down the touch hole so that ignition was pretty much guaranteed by a substantial amount of priming powder reaching the charge. In this situation a smooth pointed stiletto would be useful and would not need to have notches near the point to rip the cartridge bag.
There is an example of a rough pointed example to be found in a 'gunner's stiletto' forum search.

Now I really think we're got it. Here is a post from the Forum with excellent notes from Jim McD and Michael.

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?p=84218

I also found a group of stilettos and 'bombadier's stilettos' in Southwick's guide which were a near match. Most were all steel, but two listed had horn hilts and one of them was unmarked on the blade, like mine. Apparently, not all had the numerals on them.

I was a little worried that mine might be more contemporary, what with the odd round quillons, but the examples shown all had oval or round quillons as well!
Rick, thanks for pinning this one down! I am most surprised by the final identity!

Another feature that might pin this stiletto down even further Mark is that this example has no apparent taper to the blade and thus is ideally suited to the touchhole of a cannon.

Another valid point I hadn't thought of , Rick. The blade indeed doesn't taper at all until the very end. Looking through the Forum did pull up a lot of great info on these interesting pieces. Check out this stiletto (from one of the threads) and notice the matching hilt pattern to mine!

Nicely researched Mark, and reflects the years of material archived here and many places online. While very 'old school' and still drawn to my books, there is so much data online continually transcribed into the online medium, and for those willing to search......."cerca trova" .

I am inclined to this being a stiletto and its neo classic style seems in French or Italian manner most likely in 18th c. in accord with these influences.

Thanks for commenting, Jim. Your previous article (attached) from 2009 filled in the blanks. I also suspected 18th, towards the 'tail-end' of the stiletto's popularity. I was still very pleased with the clarification of what this piece was!