[CourseEight]

Thanks again everyone for your insights. A couple more things to clear up:

The tip is NOT sharp, nor is the interior of the "heart" shape. And the sharpening job definitiely looks intentional and by design; it goes from a very keen edge and gradually thickens to about 2 mm thick. I.e. it doesn't look like a tulward ricasso, where it goes from sharp to dull somewhat abruptly because the blade just stopped being sharpened.

The chain does indeed appear to be non-functional. In fact, suspending it by the chain makes the blade hang almost vertically upside down, because the brass handle is so heavy. Suspending it by just the attachment point closest to the handle makes the knife hang approximately horizontal.

I like the Baccus idea (there do appear to be grapes there) but the guy holding the other man's crotch is definitely a human, as you can see his toes in one of the pictures rather than a goat-foot. My brother-in-law suggested the hanging man could be Prometheus?

Thanks again, and hopefully this additional info will be useful!

--Radleigh