Question Re: Sheffield/Birmingham/Edinburgh maker's marks

Jim McDougall · 30th January 2010, 04:13 AM

Hi Chris,
Your dirk truly is a well made example, and I must admit its been quite a learning experience trying to learn a bit on these. I realized after reading your outstanding description how little I really knew about these important Scottish daggers. It is really hard to guage from photos on the patination and evidence of age as it appears pristine in the pictures, and well cleaned.

It does seem that these stamps must reflect some type of year marking as you note with the letter, and going through the limited resources I have I could not locate a touchmark using the anvil. While hallmarks usually occur in four stamps, I could not find a reference showing this letter over touchmark configuration.

The 'Jacobite' style, which is essentially from what I understand, the baluster shaped hilt, with stylized haunches, recalling the ancestry of the early ballock daggers,is the traditional form for the Highland dirk. After the 1745 Rebellion and proscription of all Highland weapons, there were changes that became evident by about mid 19th century with Scottish fashion popularity, the military styles especially.
The dirks then became of the 'thistle' profile and decorative blades and mounts.

This seems to be a simplified version of the rudimentary earlier style, without the typical knotted Celtic carved wood motif, and the dagger blade is very atypical for the dirk from the examples I noticed while going through references.I did not notice any with raised central ridge, which reminds me of later combat daggers.

Possibly "Swords and Sword Makers of England and Scotland" by Bezdek might have references to such makers marks, but I dont have access to that one. Levine's book on knives covers a great deal on early Sheffield makers but nothing that corresponds, no anvil, and only notes that makers might add thier stamped name in the latter 19th c. Most of the emphasis in those times seem to have been the Wostenholm bowie knives and Green River knives.

I hope that there might be readers out there that might have some detail on these blade markings. I am wondering if this might have been a Scottish style dagger produced to tag into the great Scottish styles enthusiasm of the Victorian period. Whatever the case, a very handsome example!

All best regards,
Jim

30th January 2010, 04:13 AM	#5
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,200	Hi Chris, Your dirk truly is a well made example, and I must admit its been quite a learning experience trying to learn a bit on these. I realized after reading your outstanding description how little I really knew about these important Scottish daggers. It is really hard to guage from photos on the patination and evidence of age as it appears pristine in the pictures, and well cleaned. It does seem that these stamps must reflect some type of year marking as you note with the letter, and going through the limited resources I have I could not locate a touchmark using the anvil. While hallmarks usually occur in four stamps, I could not find a reference showing this letter over touchmark configuration. The 'Jacobite' style, which is essentially from what I understand, the baluster shaped hilt, with stylized haunches, recalling the ancestry of the early ballock daggers,is the traditional form for the Highland dirk. After the 1745 Rebellion and proscription of all Highland weapons, there were changes that became evident by about mid 19th century with Scottish fashion popularity, the military styles especially. The dirks then became of the 'thistle' profile and decorative blades and mounts. This seems to be a simplified version of the rudimentary earlier style, without the typical knotted Celtic carved wood motif, and the dagger blade is very atypical for the dirk from the examples I noticed while going through references.I did not notice any with raised central ridge, which reminds me of later combat daggers. Possibly "Swords and Sword Makers of England and Scotland" by Bezdek might have references to such makers marks, but I dont have access to that one. Levine's book on knives covers a great deal on early Sheffield makers but nothing that corresponds, no anvil, and only notes that makers might add thier stamped name in the latter 19th c. Most of the emphasis in those times seem to have been the Wostenholm bowie knives and Green River knives. I hope that there might be readers out there that might have some detail on these blade markings. I am wondering if this might have been a Scottish style dagger produced to tag into the great Scottish styles enthusiasm of the Victorian period. Whatever the case, a very handsome example! All best regards, Jim