Spanish Dagger comments please

Marc · 18th July 2006, 10:45 PM

It's an "Albacete" dagger, named such because this pattern is considered typical from the city of Albacete, in the actual Spanish region of Castilla La Mancha
The pictures are not clear enough to pass a truly accurate judgement about the age of this specimen, but if its indeed old, the style would coincide with the second half of the 19th. - beginning of 20th centuries.
I would not place much hope in the blade's inscriptions. Decoration on these blades used to be punched with geometrical patterns of dots or etched with foliage and inscriptions. Featuring the manufaturing date is not unheard of, but it normally appars as an etching. The "Toledo" mark is even more spurious. In short, they are good candidates to be later additions.

Despite of this, if it's indeed old it's a nice exemplar. My congratulations on actually finding a weapon really worth buying in the city, it's not easy, as you've already pointed out. And the few places with some genuine material are freakingly expensive...

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18th July 2006, 10:45 PM	#4
Marc Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Madrid / Barcelona Posts: 256	It's an "Albacete" dagger, named such because this pattern is considered typical from the city of Albacete, in the actual Spanish region of Castilla La Mancha The pictures are not clear enough to pass a truly accurate judgement about the age of this specimen, but if its indeed old, the style would coincide with the second half of the 19th. - beginning of 20th centuries. I would not place much hope in the blade's inscriptions. Decoration on these blades used to be punched with geometrical patterns of dots or etched with foliage and inscriptions. Featuring the manufaturing date is not unheard of, but it normally appars as an etching. The "Toledo" mark is even more spurious. In short, they are good candidates to be later additions. Despite of this, if it's indeed old it's a nice exemplar. My congratulations on actually finding a weapon really worth buying in the city, it's not easy, as you've already pointed out. And the few places with some genuine material are freakingly expensive...