Unusual Albacete knife
 

This run-down Albacete knife crossed my way recently, the edge seems to be several times resharpened, the ferrule near the blade shows some dents and two handle inlays are missing. I never before have seen such an Albacete knife, do you have?
32 cm long, blade with brass bolster 21,3 cm long. Quite heavy with 164 gram.

Last two pics show it together with my other Albacete daggers for comparison.

I am not overly fond of the tilt to the blade. The over-sharpening doesn't help either. Not sure what purpose it was made for. Much prefer the traditional double-edged daggers. You have a good collection of them. I do really like that dog head pommelled one tho. :)

Hi Wayne,

Yes, it's an ugly duckling! :D And yes, the repeated sharpening doesn't let it look better. The question was, if someone has seen a similar one before. ;)
It would look much better when the original edge would be still present.

Best regards,
Detlef

Hi Detlef,

I'm confident the hilt and guard are likely from Albacete but not convinced about the blade. I have not seen the same form of dots on an Albacete blade, nor a brass ricasso decorated with circles and dots in the middle. That does not look like any Spanish motif I can recall. Could this ugly duckling be a marriage of disparate parts? That would be my guess.

Ian.

I think the "cuchillo"in the foto is the basic type of your piece. You find it and others in a book that I bought some time ago when I still had a collection if more than 50 cuchillos of Albacete

Hi Ian,

Someone had the same guess that it could be a marriage but when you look close you will see that the ornamentation on the bolster is the same as on the handle cups. I am nearly sure that everything is of the same age and not a marriage.

Regards,
Detlef

Hello Udo,

Thank you for your comment! And yes, this would be the basic form of my blade but it was many times resharpened.

Regards,
Detlef

Sorry Detlef, I don't understand what you mean.

Hi Ian,

A picture explains sometimes more than words! ;)

Regards,
Detlef