the river Lek Landsknechtdagger

[Matchlock]

Perfect piece and documentation, Jasper, thank you!

Best,
Michael

[M ELEY]

Beautiful and extremely rare pice, Jasper. Congrats! I especially like where it was found. Time to go drain off a river or two looking for goodies!

Mark

[cornelistromp]

a brass tang washer with an interesting form.

[Matchlock]

The asymmetric shape of the washer clearly reflects the Late Gothic taste, as a forerunner of the upcoming Early Renaissance style.

m

[Dmitry]

Here's a photo I took of another one. It's in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Much simpler than the ones above, but in similar fashion, with a cut-back inner part of the guard.

[Atlantia]

Originally Posted by Matchlock

The asymmetric shape of the washer clearly reflects the Late Gothic taste, as a forerunner of the upcoming Early Renaissance style.

m

Nice dagger.
The washer appears to be in the shape of a shield.

[Matchlock]

Well observed, Gene,

And the symmetric form of the washer as well as the twisted grip both denote that the Philadelphia piece posted by Dmitry dates from the 1520's-30's, the heyday of the Landsknechts.

Best,
Michael

[cornelistromp]

which is also very remarkable with this type of dagger is the following I noticed;

I have handled 3 genuine landsknechtdaggers, all with a flared calyx type of grip, and all 3 have a sort of bell inside the handle.

with the first dagger, I thought it was a loose piece of iron,locked in the grip. With the second dagger, I found it very coincidental, now with the third, I think this is done intentionally, comparable with the Dutch knives with wooden liongrips with a wooden rattle ball inside.

I hope I once get the opportunity to inspect the dagger no62 in the Dutch Army museum, so I could check whether this dagger has something similar locked in the grip.


Should there also be a link to the katzbalgers with a brass-bell terminals at the end of the parrier guards ?

[Dmitry]

Originally Posted by Matchlock

Well observed, Gene,

And the symmetric form of the washer as well as the twisted grip both denote that the Philadelphia piece posted by Dmitry dates from the 1520's-30's, the heyday of the Landsknechts.

Best,
Michael

Michael, I didn't want to bring this up, since the topic is not focused on it, but now that you said it, it confirms what I thought the moment I saw the piece - the Philly Museum tag for this dagger is way off the mark.