A mystery knife - India or N. Africa maybe?
 

Hello all,

Here is a small dagger I recently acquired. The previous owner had no idea where it came from or how old it is. I liked the pearl, wood and clay inlay on the handle. On one side of the blade (8 3/8" inch) is engraved the word "Victory" fairly clearly. That doesn't sound like a working blade! On the other side I cannot make it out. Please see pictures below. I welcome any and all thoughts!

- Dave

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1061/...b60bf1d2_o.jpg

Before cleaning:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1353/...a926b4e227.jpg

After cleaning:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1122/...952825b0_m.jpg

Definatly Indian ,seen similar from 1940s & much later. {70s.}

Sold in Bazars in ww2 to soldiers & more recently than that to the faithfulll outside the Sikh temples as Kirpan.....

Shame you cleaned it like that IMHO, the before picture is 10x better better than the after....

Luckily it wasnt a valueble piece.

Spiral

Thanks; perils of cleaning
 

Thanks for the quick reply.

Cleaning is always a question, and I find a lot of different opinions and preferences. In this case, it really was pretty grimy and yes, inexpensive. The pre-cleaning picture of the blade actually made it look better than it was.

My bias is generally towards removing the grime of history so that as much of the original beauty of a weapon can come forth as possible. However, there are cases where the patina and age enhance rather than detract.

I remember watching the "Antique Roadshow" one time. The expert said, "I have great news! This is a genuine x y z wardrobe that could be worth $100,000 ...{ooh ahh}... if you hadn't refinished it. As it is, you might get $5,000 for it". High drama indeed, but it drove home the point about "restoration".

these were sold in their hundreds on ebay, some with bone hand grips, or wood, but all basically the same, they even had a 'beware' fact sheet on them on ebay somewhere. i bought one myself and posted it here and there was some initial reaction that it was a revolutionary war era naval dirk. it ain't. (my original post<-linky) it's from india - late 20th c. - a kirpan. pic of one just like the one in post 1 is shown in the linked post.

one of these was sold on ebay a few days ago as a 'naval dirk' and went for over 300$ to some unsuspecting hopeful. i'm tempted to post mine there. (mine cost £10)

here's mine - blade etching says good luck on one side, pure steel on the other. some say 'victory' or 'best wishes'
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s...kew/kirpan.jpg
ah, well, back into the drawer with the rest of my educational purchases....

Hi there, here in British Columbia (Canada) we call it a kirpan. It is the traditional dagger that many Sikh men wear.

Greg

A Kirpan is any Sikh sword or knife, that ones not realy a "traditional" design, Ill think youl find? ;)

But yes as I said above, recently they are sometimes sold outside Sikh temples as such....

Spiral