View Single Post
Old 31st August 2010, 03:59 PM   #25
Marc
Member
 
Marc's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Madrid / Barcelona
Posts: 256
Default

Over the years I've seen a good handful of daggers of this type (the ones Fernando posted, I mean), with some variations (horn, ebony or ivory handles, for example, and either straight or wavy blades), but all of similar size and style, and all with the same kind of lenticular ricasso, also.
At least one of them (sorry, no pictures) was marked in the ricasso with:

1875
TOLEDO

I tend to consider them as fancy/utility/defence-if-there's-nothing-else-available, late 19th early 20th. Yes, here in Spain they are also frequently associated with... er... well, women who smoke and call you "honey"... but, frankly, I still have to find any reference that could give some real substance to this association. Until proven otherwise, I prefer to think of it as another "Collector's Label".
I kind of like the type, they are elegant and "chic", if you get my drift. The one presented here is a particularly nice one, though, even if only for the sculptural work. Congratulations .
Marc is offline   Reply With Quote