Dagger ID please

[Gonzalo G]

You can see the argentinean puñales here:

http://www.vikingsword.com/ethsword/facon/criollo.html

and you can see modern canarian knives in the old fashion here:

http://cuchilloscanarios.com/

Regards

Gonzalo

[Atlantia]

Thanks Gonzalo,
There are some very beautiful knives there, and some very 'grand' ones! Some of these Gauchos clearly had refined tastes, and money to indulge them.
I've seen a few 'lesser' knives of that type in the UK over the years, but they are not common. Do they come up for sale often in Mexico?
The 'asymetric' shape still gives them a utility or even 'cutlery' look to me, but having had mine for a whole day now ;-) I find the shape is starting to look more pleasing to me. I could see myself having a collection of these if I lived somewhere where they were regularly available.
Do you have any in your collection?

Regards
Gene

[Gonzalo G]

The puñal criollo is an utility knife for all sorts of work. Gauchos were poor man, but the land owners, burocrats and army officers could indulge on silver mounted puñales and facones. They don´t show in México, but I´m member of an argentinean forum where most of the best badesmiths and some of the best siversmiths from Argentina joins. I can put you in contact with people which mounts puñales criollos on chased silver or nickel silver.

No, I don´t collect them, nor have any.
Regards

Gonzalo

[Atlantia]

Originally Posted by Gonzalo G

The puñal criollo is an utility knife for all sorts of work. Gauchos were poor man, but the land owners, burocrats and army officers could indulge on silver mounted puñales and facones. They don´t show in México, but I´m member of an argentinean forum where most of the best badesmiths and some of the best siversmiths from Argentina joins. I can put you in contact with people which mounts puñales criollos on chased silver or nickel silver.

No, I don´t collect them, nor have any.
Regards

Gonzalo

LOL, I'd love some of those beautiful silver mounted ones, but alas I'm as 'poor as a Gaucho' at the moment ;-)

I wonder, has the lineage of these knives been completely mapped?
I mean are the Gaucho knives decendants of Spanish knives and the North American bowie a hybrid of Gaucho and trade knives?


Regards
Gene

[Gonzalo G]

Originally Posted by Atlantia

I wonder, has the lineage of these knives been completely mapped?
I mean are the Gaucho knives decendants of Spanish knives and the North American bowie a hybrid of Gaucho and trade knives?

No, the so called "gaucho knives" (they were not exclusive of the gauchos) and the bowie are independant. Abel Domenech has hypothesised that both could have common ancestors, and this applies only on the case of the puñal, not on the rest of the argentinean-uruguayan edged weapons. The puñal seems to have it´s ancestry in the Belduque, Albacete and Flandes knives brought by the Spaniards to our lands, as Domenech says. This is a very probable fact, though the history of this weapons is not an exact science and there could it be some uncertainties. You can find some examples of the Belduque knife on the web, associated to north american colonization. On the case of the bowie, it could be another spanish influences, as some forms of it are very similar to a certain type of mexican knives, but this is a a latter lineage not related with your knife.
Regards

Gonzalo