Thread: Enigma
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Old 28th April 2019, 12:17 AM   #5
Jim McDougall
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That is a pretty standard edition of the so called 'running wolf', and pretty good condition. The blade is pretty much an 'arming' blade and these were basically Solingen trade blades of 17th into 18th c. often with this type of central fuller.
While the 'Passau' wolf began with knife makers in Passau, it was later picked up by Solingen smiths and I believe Wagner (1967) claimed it began being placed on blades produced in Solingen for Passau armorers. It seems that it gradually became more broadly used in Solingen on a wide range of blades.
These were not by any means a standardized mark, nor indicator of any particular maker, and variations of these chiseled marks were many .

Wagner shows a chart of these accompanied by years, however there is no chronological development in reality, they were simply varied by the worker who applied them. Its as Ed notes, these could be, and have been spuriously applied (hands on examination better to confirm) but this mark corresponds to the most commonly seen versions.
These were not as commonly copied in most ethnographic centers, as the so called 'sickle' marks were, though many have the idea they were. Actually the only place outside Europe I know of that copied them was in Chechen centers such as Ataghi, in the 19th c.
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