Interesting Venezuelan dagger
 

Yesterday I received this very interesting dagger. Very well worked bowie-style shaped blade shows a faded etching VIVA LA REPUBLICA framed from floral ornaments. Interesting is the engraving or better stamp at the ricasso which reads "Van Dissel, Rode & Co., Maracaibo".
With a little google search I found this: https://books.google.de/books?id=j2U...acaibo&f=false
In short it was a German trading company from Hamburg and going to Venezuela and worked from Maracaibo. So I guess that the knife is from possible Solingen manufacture but like said, it's only my guess.
Guard is from brass, ferrule iron, handle from horn, blind tang.
Scabbard is very worn and from leather and worked in a fahion we know from other South American knives/daggers.

26,5 cm overall without scabbard
14,8 cm blade only
5 mm thick near the handle

When someone know more about this knife and history I would be glad when he could share it here.

Here the knife in comparison with two other knives from my collection.

So many views and not one comment?? :shrug: :eek: :rolleyes:

Detlef,

I think people are thinking this one over because we seldom see knives from Venezuela. I have seen only three or four, and none looked like this one. It may take some time before somebody can offer constructive comments. Just keep bumping it up periodically and asking for help. Something will probably turn up.

Ian.

Detlef,

I believe you are correct in thinking this is a European knife made for the Venezuelan market. The guard looks European, but the cut out area on the ricasso is perhaps a nod to the "Spanish notch" seen on many Spanish colonial knives (as in your example of the Canary Island knife). This notch is not a choil because it is not continuous with the sharpened edge (as we have discussed here previously), but rather a cut out of the ricasso itself, and in the case of the Canary Island knife may have been to support the forefinger from sliding down on to the edge. The small ferrule might also be a tribute to the bolster or "button" seen on many guardless South American colonial knives.

Your knife seems to have been made specifically for the Spanish colonial market IMHO. I don't know its age, but from its appearance I would think it is likely first half of the 20th C.

Ian.

Hi Ian,

Yes, you will be right. I will post it in a German forum when my time it allows. When I get any further informations I will share it here.
I don't remember to have seen a Venezuelan knife before! :D ;)

Regards,
Detlef

I am nearly sure about this. This Van Dissel, Rode & Co. company was a trading company with her roots in Hamburg, Germany, also a place for trading. So they will have ordered knives for the Venezuelan market and this maybe in Solingen. I know that it was habit that Solingen manufacturer signed blades also for request.
I would place it to the first quarter of the 20th century going by the floral ornament and the way the characters of VIVA LA REPUBLICA are formed. But this is just my humble opinion!
Thank you for comment Ian, maybe the stone starts rolling! ;)

Regards,
Detlef

Have a look at at the history of Maracaibo. It was actually founded by Germans and originally named New Nuremburg (1529). There seems to be a long connection with Germans. It is also the centre of the Venezuelan oil industry which boomed in the early 20th Cent, mostly under the auspices of Royal Dutch Shell.
Best wishes
Richard

Thank you Richard,

A very good hint, just read what Wikipedia has to tell. So it become more clear why a company from Hamburg went to Maracaibo.

Regards,
Detlef