My pleasure Ron! but I'm afraid I havent added much but plausible ideas, and as you note, estimating age is a tough one, especially after an item has been cleaned and (to me, sadly) the patination is gone. There are traces of it here in the hilt figure so there is some age, and I agree, the conditions in which the weapon has been held have great bearing on these things.
As I mentioned, this is clearly in '19th century style' as beautifully illustrated by Fernando and also well observed by Marc. Getting back to the colorful 'pulp fiction' collectors tales about being for ladies of the evening, like most of these stories, mostly hyperbole. This is not to say these might not have found such use, but then, its like assuming every 'gambler' in the 1880's in the American Wild West saloons carried a pocket derringer; every gunfighter had a Colt .45 'peacemaker' etc .
These daggers have effectively made blades, so they're not just decorative from what I can see, but they are an accoutrement, and clearly made to be seen, not concealed. That is why they seem to possibly be intended as a votive item ceremonially, or perhaps worn in the societal sense previously mentioned.
This is most likely 'vintage' (good word Ron!
and with intriguing possibilities, which is a good thing for those of us with a bit of the romantic (an affliction which seems to go with the territory for empassioned collector/historians
Marc, hard to look at these interesting daggers and not think of Cirlot, and the symbolics!
All best regards,
Jim