Thread: New acquisition
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Old 22nd February 2015, 07:41 PM   #1
Shakethetrees
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Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Louisiana
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Default New acquisition

This dagger is 18" overall with a 13" blade. The grip is of green horn. An interesting feature is the stubby guard with bulbous quillions. The layering of its wrought iron manufacture is evident in the second image.

The long raised rib was probably there to increase the stiffness of the double edged blade.

So, my general idea is that it probably dates from the 17th century and possibly from as late as circa 1720's.

The guard, offset grip and overall proportions lead me to believe it falls somewhere in this date range.

As far as country of origin, I have not been convinced yet.

The green horn was from a species of cattle that was, according to one source, from Germany and was exported to different countries to be used as knife/edged weapon grips.

The quillions bear a strong resemblance to turnings found on Baroque era Northern European furniture, with a subset of that style being called "Jacobean" in England.

I welcome any comments, questions or additions. This dagger is not what I usually find, (or pursue), for that matter, so my comments are based solely on the study of images found in paintings, and furniture from the 17th century and slightly later.
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