Canary Islands Dagger or Spanish Philippines Naval Dirk?

[Sajen]

Hi Ian,

It's for sure not a Canary Island knife/dagger and I also strongly doubt that it's Spanish/Philippines. French?

Regards,
Detlef

[Ian]

Hi Detlef,

You are too quick for me. I was still writing the description and getting the formatting sorted out and you already responded. French might be a good idea. I'm not familiar with any French or French Colonial stacked hilts.

Regards,

Ian.

[Interested Party]

Could Chilean origin be a possibility?

[Ian]

Originally Posted by Interested Party

Could Chilean origin be a possibility?

Thanks for the suggestion IP. Yes, Chile is a possibility given the well known stacked hilts on some of the traditional Chilean corvo. As I noted above, the stacks don't look as tight as on a corvo, and corvo generally have more varied materials in their stacks. Nevertheless, Chile is much more likely than the Canary Islands! A Chilean origin would probably not account for the thumb groove on the pommel.

[SwordLover79]

Hello Guys - here are 2 photos of my corvo. Looks similar to knives posted previously. This is a pretty well made knife overall. I often wondered if it is a tool or a weapon...

[Ian]

Hi SL79,

Both a tool and a weapon. As a weapon, the corvo is a very nasty one used against soft body parts such as the abdomen and neck. It was much feared by opponents. A peasant knife, it was converted to military use and infamously used in the War of the Pacific between Chile and Peru in the mid-19th C. Two modified versions are still in military use by Chile. There is quite a lot of information about the corvo in the Ethno Forum pages.

Your example shows the typical, tightly stacked hilt on these knives. The OP of this thread shows that the various disks on the hilt are loose and mobile, unlike the tight finish on a corvo. Thanks for showing your example for comparison.

[Interested Party]

Originally Posted by Ian

Your example shows the typical, tightly stacked hilt on these knives. The OP of this thread shows that the various disks on the hilt are loose and mobile, unlike the tight finish on a corvo. Thanks for showing your example for comparison.

Thanks for the information on the stacking. The quality of the stack was something I hadn't considered.

[Ian]

We seldom do this, but given the possibility that this is a European (or European colonial) knife, I'm going to cross-list it in the Euro Forum just in case someone there has more ideas.