Italian Vendetta?

[RobT]

Hi All,

I recently got this dagger and am wondering if it is an Italian vendetta knife. It doesn’t have the Spanish notch usually seen on those blades. If it is Italian, is there an Italian name for the type and does it have a specific geographical area?
Specs:
7.5” (19.05cm) blade with integral bolster and 3.75” (9.525cm) false edge
Flattened octagonal, black horn hilt with 8 German silver strips inlaid longitudinally (all but 2 missing); German silver ferrule; Butt cap and nut for threaded tang missing (both probably German silver also)
Black leather sheath with German silver throat and missing chape (probably German silver also)
I plan to restore the missing pieces. The missing butt cap probably looked like the ferrule but if anyone has photos or advice as to what the nut and the chape probably looked like, I would appreciate hearing from them.

Sincerely,
RobT

[RobT]

Hi All,

I was just reading a new post by Sajen (A Luzon bowie style knife for comment) on the Ethnographic Weapons forum and to me, the hilt on my dagger has the same style of metal inlay as the hilt on Sajen’s Luzon Bowie.

Sincerely,
RobT

[Sajen]

Hello Rob,

Interesting little dagger you have there, I guess that it will be a challenge to restore it. Frankly said I am not familiar with the term "Italian vendetta" dagger but with the term Corsican vendetta dagger but these looks a little bit different, see for example here: http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...light=Corsican
But I would guess that your one belongs to the same family of daggers. Could be Corsican but could also be Italian.
Attached is a Corsican one from my own collection, it's 23,5 cm long inside scabbard.

Regards,
Detlef

[Sajen]

And here are my two other ones.

[Ian]

Rob,

Your knife has a sheath that looks familiar, with the criss-cross pattern lightly embossed on soft leather. I have a Canary Islands' knife with a sheath of a similar pattern on soft leather. I'm not suggesting that your knife was necessarily made in the Canary Islands, but it might argue that your knife is perhaps Spanish in origin.

As Detlef has noted, the description of your knife as a Corsican vendetta example may be a little off. A number of Spanish and Italian knives are similar, and for that reason are sometimes designated as "Mediterranean." Perhaps that might apply here. Just to illustrate the similarity in styles, note the hilt on the second example shown in Detlef's most recent post. it has a brass ferrule at each end, a swollen central part and a small ball at the pommel. This hilt looks very similar to so-called Spanish ripol hilts.

Attached are pictures of my Canary Islands' knife and sheath.
.

[RobT]

Sajen and Ian,
Thanks for your responses. I have always heard that the fixed blade knife with its acute right triangle blade and Spanish notch plus integral bolster was an Italian vendetta dagger.
The Corsican vendetta dagger on the other hand is a folding knife with a spear point blade and a French slip joint lock. The hilt features a peculiarly shaped long bolster and, on vintage knives, the scales have a Moore’s head on one side. I have provided a photo of one of mine below but an online search using “Corsican vendetta” will yield many more.
At this point I think a bit of Corsican and French history will explain things. Corsica, just north of the Italian island of Sardinia was ruled by the city state of Genoa until 1755 when it became a republic. In 1769, the French took it over.
In 1840, the novel Colomba, by Prosper Mérimée became a smash hit and this is where, for blade collectors, the Corsican vendetta story gets interesting. The novel involves Colomba, her brother Orso, and and an Englishwoman named Lydia. Colomba wants Orso to fight a duel to avenge their father’s murder. Orso is reluctant to do so and Lydia is vehemently against it.
As a result of the novel’s success, Corsica became a hot spot for French tourists eager to see the rough and ready Corsicans willing to fight duels at the drop of a hat to save personal and family honor.
Corsican businessmen saw a souvenir opportunity in all of this and took themselves off to Thiers to create a vendetta knife. The knife makers responded and thus the Corsican vendetta folding knife was born out of whole cloth.
You can check with French knife blogs. They all say the same thing. The so called Corsican vendetta was never carried by Corsicans. Its sole purpose was as a souvenir item. I agree with this conclusion. Who in their right mind would want to fight a duel with a slip joint folder? Since they are practical folders (unless you are fighting a duel), they are still being made in Thiers (AFAIK without the Moore’s head on the scales). I have even seen Chinese made versions.

Sajen,
It shouldn’t be too hard to make the repairs. The toughest part is to get the German silver for the components.

Sincerely,
RobT

[RobT]

Hi All,

Here is a link explaining the so called Corsican vendetta folding knife (https://grokipedia.com/page/vendetta_knife). There are others online.

Sincerely,
RobT

[Sajen]

Hi Rob,

Just have a look here: http://www.oriental-arms.co.il/item.php?id=1094 or better here: http://www.oriental-arms.co.il/searc...&s.x=11&s.y=15

But yes, I know that these folding knives are also called vendetta knives but the fixed daggers are the older ones.

Regards,
Detlef

[Bob A]

I noticed that the tip of your blade seems as though it might be thickened somewhat, after the fashion of the armor-piercing daggers. Is this the case?

[RobT]

Sajen,
I agree with you that the fixed blade versions are older and I will go further to say that, unlike the folding versions, they were likely carried and used for their euphonious purpose. Oddly enough, none of the French folding knife sites I saw mention the fixed blade knife as having been carried by Corsicans. Since the fixed blade version is also known as a Genoese stylet (or stiletto) dagger and Genoa ruled Corsica, it makes sense that the Corsicans would wear the same weapon. Oriental arms probably has the correct attribution but I wonder if there was any difference between the Corsican and Genoese versions.

Bob A,
No, my blade doesn’t have a thickened tip.

Sincerely,
RobT