Vendetta dagger new purchase.

[fernando]

Duly noted, Delef .

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by fernando

Duly noted, Delef .

Thanks Fernando, when you look close to the last example I've posted you can see that these knives also have been early souveniers. It's also dated.

[fernando]

Originally Posted by Sajen

Thanks Fernando, when you look close to the last example I've posted you can see that these knives also have been early souveniers. It's also dated.

I see that you call them souveniers, Detlef. Aren't they more a mythic creation for tourists than an actual weapon to be used by locals ?
Is this link a reasonable story ?

https://knives-of-france-blog.com/vendetta-knife/



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[Sajen]

Originally Posted by fernando

I see that you call them souveniers, Sajen. Aren't they more a mythic creation for tourists than an actual weapon to be used by locals ?
Is this link a reasonable story ?

https://knives-of-france-blog.com/vendetta-knife/

Oh, I guess that there are also real weapons which were used as them. But these are very rare. My example with bone grip could be such an example like the ones in the pictures. It will be the same as with many other knives like Bosnian bichaqs, Canarian knives, faca de ponta, Albacete daggers and many others. The examples for souvenir developed from real weapons.

Regards,
Detlef

[Gonzoadler]

I think that many 19th and early 20th century Vendetta daggers are decorative or touristic, too. A second piece I own is a miniature version. Because of the size and the delicate construction it is not a really good weapon.

total length 19.5cm; blade length 11.5cm

[David R]

I think the "give-away" is when the bolster is not forged in one with the blade, but is a separate piece fitted below the choil.
There are a LOT of small daggers out there, Gamblers, Prostitutes and the US "Sam Bell Dirks"... and when we go back in time, the tiny Venetian Stilettos. We also get a category known as "Muff Daggers" and also tiny pistols known as "Muff Pistols", subjects for some fun discussion and research.
Personal opinion.... would it do the job? Not always to kill, but to discourage.... a bit like a Velo-dog pistol!

[Interested Party]

11.5 cm should be enough for an average sized human. I always imagined these were for up close and personal use with a sewing machine like thrust. If I remember correctly Levine said the folding vendetta knives didn't have a release for the blade's locking mechanism. So, I have always assumed the knife was left with the victim. Both points are pure speculation.

DavidR good eye about the bolster.

[fernando]

Originally Posted by Sajen

... The examples for souvenir developed from real weapons...

Detlef, may i suggest that it is well established that these knives are a product motivated by romanticized sources and were never real weapons. We can read publications (New York Times 1881 for one) in that vendettas were perpretated mostly with period muzzle loading guns, not daggers.
Let me hijack a translation made by Chris Evans from Spanish Abel A. Domenech's Book Navajas/Cuchillos Plegables):

The successful publishing of the novela "Colomba" by Prospero Merimee in 1840, introduced large numbers in France to a highly romanticized rendition of Corsica, with its passionate and quarelsome inhabitants. This distorted presentation exalted the fierce and indomitable bandit, ever ready to shed blood in the defence of his land, family relations and honour. The general impression conveyed was that the whole population of this island was permanently embroiled in vendettas, the causes of which were buried in the mists of time. What is certain is that whatever vendettas there were, were prosecuted mostly with the muzzle loading guns of the day. But popular romantic notions demanded nobler weapons, and the novelae authors obliged with swords and gigantic folding knives.

The cutlers of Thiers could not ignore the commercial opportunities presented by all this combined with the then emergent tourism to the island; As such, we find that the most peddled souvenir, to visitors, was the folding knife allegedly used in the aforementioned feuds.

To satisfy this new market, the cutlers of Thiers settled on a folding knife that many years before was sold in the Mediteranean regions under the name of "Maltes" and "Neapolitan". It had a long slim and pointy blade, the handle of which was provided with a large metallic bolster and a backspring that affixed it in the open position. The scales were of horn or bone, decorated with arabesques and floral motives, drawn with Indian ink, and with the ever present Moor's Head (Tete de More), the emblem of the island. The blades are nearly always acid engraved with popular captions that encapsulate imputed popular sentiments such as "Vendetta Corsa", "Death To My Enemy" and so on.

The introduction of this knife met with enormous commercial success and the format was and is manufactured to this day in sizes ranging from the diminutive to very large, over 60cms, specimens. This imposed upon the popular mind the form of the native Corsican knife, what it ought to be, which became and remains an icon of the island.

[Sajen]

Hello Fernando,

Could it be that the quoted article speaks about the folding knives like shown by these examples in the pictures?

Regards,
Detlef

[fernando]

Then you would have two styles of Vendetta Corsa .
If you care to pay a little attention to the link in post #13.
Mind you, i am no authority in this subject ... at all. Just trying to reach conclusions.