Hi Michael,
My appreciation of aesthetics of form (of edged weapons) were in no small part influenced by the vintage hunting knives I was exposed to while growing up...
I am particularly partial to the vintage hand-ground hunting knives that were turned out by U.S. manufacturers (the Buck Frontiersman comes to mind) with gently swelling bellies and graceful lines - both expressive of the art of knife making that has continued to evolve here in the U.S. and which IMO are reflected to some degree in this particular dagger. While it doesn't take much for me to find an appreciation of aesthetics when it comes to edged weapons (usually just a point or an edge of some sort, and a turned or carved piece of horn, ivory, or wood
), I find this particular dagger to be very appealing to the eye.
Here's an example of the Frontiersman - given the impact this particular knife had on my tastes, I am sure you will see why I am so curious to learn more about this dagger...
Thank you for additional the example that IMO further corroborates the degree of accuracy with which Bosch portrayed weaponry in his work. I have looked through my (feeble collection of) reference books but cannot find a similar dagger from the period. Would you by chance have any illustrations or photographs of similar examples you can share?
Regards,
Chris