Poiniard? Stilleto? Naval dirk?

[Rick]

Originally Posted by M ELEY

I like the way you think, Rick-

Having looked over some of the past posts on Misericordes, along with close cousins like the so-called 'Gunner's daggers', I would say it is a distinct possibility. I was guessing at the age of the dagger, so it could easily be a century older than I first thought (17th versus 18th).

https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/a...6-a61a00976aa9

I also understand that there was a resurgence of Misericordes in Victorian times, but most of those were extremely embellished/decorated and typically not 'working models' (blunt edges), like the ritual Satanist daggers coming out of France during the 19th c. I am out of my league on this one and will have to do some research on these types. Thank you so much for the (potential) lead. I will say that to back up your theory, mine does have the cruciform hilt and the diamond-shaped blade would easily punch through thin sheet metal I think...
Mark

Just to confuse things further Mark, artillery men, or gun captains at sea used goose quills packed with powder to shove down the touch hole so that ignition was pretty much guaranteed by a substantial amount of priming powder reaching the charge. In this situation a smooth pointed stiletto would be useful and would not need to have notches near the point to rip the cartridge bag.
There is an example of a rough pointed example to be found in a 'gunner's stiletto' forum search.