Assistance please

[A. G. Maisey]

Thanks Kronckew, that's about my opinion too, but I'm hoping somebody might know a little more than that.

[Henk]

I think these knives are corsican vendetta knives. 19th mid 20th century.

[A. G. Maisey]

Thanks for your input Henk.

I have owned a few Corsican knives, got rid of the last one, which was a 19th century folder, about 40 years ago.

The workmanship in both these knives is far superior to any of the Corsicans I owned. The workmanship in the gilded dagger is exceptionally fine, that floral motif is chiselled steel, not quite the sort of thing we see in Corsican knives.

The other knife gives the impression of being very old, I hesitate to put an age on it, because as I've said, I know next to nothing about this sort of thing.

Corsicans came up for discussion here:-

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=12269

I guess these knives of mine could be Corsicans, but if so, they are not at all typical.

Thanks again.

[mariusgmioc]

Hello Alan,

My guess is that the first one is an exceptional example of South Italian hunting dagger. Quite a beauty!

Unfortunately, no guess for the second one... but I don't think it is Corsican (don't ask me why because it is more like a hunch).

[A. G. Maisey]

A hunting dagger Marius?

Yes, maybe. Italian I can accept, I've always thought Italian or Spanish, and it seems others agree, but I would have thought a hunting dagger would have a guard to prevent the hand slipping down onto the blade, this one is quite robust, but it seems to be tailor-made to slip under a jacket. It is pretty nice, I've had it for nearly 40 years, totally outside my field, but I couldn't resist it. Wasn't real cheap either. I used to eat lentils quite a lot in my younger collecting days. You can live for very extended periods on lentils and rice if you need to.

The other one I tend more towards Spanish, I reckon that the scabbard was covered in red velvet when it was new. Impossible now to know what the covering was, but it looks and feels like it might have been red velvet. It is quite a refined piece in the hand, but the blade was made by welding and doubling, you could not call it damascus, but there are weld indications all through it.

[mariusgmioc]

Yep! Hunting dagger. It is the widening of the blade relative to the hilt that prevents the hand fom sliping over the blade. Czerny's has a couple on sale in their upcoming auction (lots 324, 326, 328 / auction 71) so you can check their website also. Yet, many times I found mistakes on their website, so it definitely cannot be taken as reference.

But let us wait and see what others have to say.

PS: Had lentils today.

[fernando]

Originally Posted by mariusgmioc

Yep! Hunting dagger. It is the widening of the blade relative to the hilt that prevents the hand fom sliping over the blade. Czerny's has a couple on sale in their upcoming auction (lots 324, 326, 328 / auction 71) so you can check their website also. Yet, many times I found mistakes on their website, so it definitely cannot be taken as reference...

Yes, indeed they call them hunting knives (coltello da cacia) whether that is just an allegory or an attribution to practical utility.