Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

Robert · 11th January 2010, 08:33 PM

Hello everyone. The dagger has arrived and I am really pleased with the overall condition and construction though it does have a couple of problems. The first and the least of my worries is the cracked carabao horn grip. Age cracks are usually expected in older grips made from horn and I would have been somewhat suspicious it it wasn't. The second is the small brass bead was missing from where the tang exits the pommel but that has been easily replaced. The BIG problem is somewhere down the line someone decided to clean the rust from the blade with a wire wheel

That I will leave for later repair. The blade itself comes to a very deadly needle sharp point.

The reverse side of the blade does have a face flute that extends from the very tip to the ricasso, which is about 1/2 an inch long. The scabbard is hand stitched and in decent shape though the frog has seen much better days.

Dimasalang, Thank you very much for the wonderful information that you have contributed to this post as it is greatly appreciated. I do have a couple of questions that I would like to ask. You said, "It looks to be from the Revolution/Phil-Am War era and not earlier than that. I say this because a piece like this would be illegal to make and sell when the Spanish were still in control of the islands." My question on this would be, seeing that this dagger was designed for one purpose and one purpose only do you think that there could have been people (criminal types or assassins) that could have carried and used a dagger like this without really caring if it was against the law or not to own, and if so do you think that this could date this a little earlier than the 1890's ? My second question is, would it be correct to assume that the the correct term for this style of dagger to be a Tres Cantos ?

Here are a few new pictures showing the dagger after the replacement of the brass bead on the end of the hilt and a little light cleaning and waxing. The brass is not as shiny as it looks in the pictures.
Again my thanks for all the help that has been offered by everyone.

11th January 2010, 08:33 PM	#18
Robert EAAF Staff Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Centerville, Kansas Posts: 2,196	Hello everyone. The dagger has arrived and I am really pleased with the overall condition and construction though it does have a couple of problems. The first and the least of my worries is the cracked carabao horn grip. Age cracks are usually expected in older grips made from horn and I would have been somewhat suspicious it it wasn't. The second is the small brass bead was missing from where the tang exits the pommel but that has been easily replaced. The BIG problem is somewhere down the line someone decided to clean the rust from the blade with a wire wheel That I will leave for later repair. The blade itself comes to a very deadly needle sharp point. The reverse side of the blade does have a face flute that extends from the very tip to the ricasso, which is about 1/2 an inch long. The scabbard is hand stitched and in decent shape though the frog has seen much better days. Dimasalang, Thank you very much for the wonderful information that you have contributed to this post as it is greatly appreciated. I do have a couple of questions that I would like to ask. You said, "It looks to be from the Revolution/Phil-Am War era and not earlier than that. I say this because a piece like this would be illegal to make and sell when the Spanish were still in control of the islands." My question on this would be, seeing that this dagger was designed for one purpose and one purpose only do you think that there could have been people (criminal types or assassins) that could have carried and used a dagger like this without really caring if it was against the law or not to own, and if so do you think that this could date this a little earlier than the 1890's ? My second question is, would it be correct to assume that the the correct term for this style of dagger to be a Tres Cantos ? Here are a few new pictures showing the dagger after the replacement of the brass bead on the end of the hilt and a little light cleaning and waxing. The brass is not as shiny as it looks in the pictures. Again my thanks for all the help that has been offered by everyone. Attached Images Last edited by Robert Coleman; 11th January 2010 at 10:25 PM.