Thread: Today's find
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Old 25th February 2015, 01:59 PM   #2
M ELEY
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: NC, U.S.A.
Posts: 2,066
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Nice little dirk! Turned bone handle, fits the profile of a 'gambler's dirk'. Could be European or American. Often when one sees a 'provincial' piece, we guess American, but it could have just as easily been a European blacksmith's piece. I steer away from Mexican or Spanish colonial, who also have simpler/cruder pieces, but not in this style, nor does one see scabbards with those types. Two things that (to me) point towards a possible American distinction is the way the bone grip is lathe-turned. It reminds me of some of the scrimshaw I've seen here in the states. Secondly, the diamond-shaped guard is exactly like those I've seen on so called Old Western gambler's dirks-
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