Are they all really crystal hilted

[Lew]

Originally Posted by kronckew

glass can also be tempered and hardened, some 'alloys' are quite tough.

the connection of the grip to the blade with a teeny tiny tang and that habaki style bolster does not look suitable for a weapon designed to be actually used, but it does look nice.

I think this was more a status piece for the rich it was not ment for combat. One oops and the hilt would shatter.

[Jens Nordlunde]

Thank you for the answers, I too believe that a dagger like the one shown was a court piece, and not meant for battle.

Vandoo is right, the Italians were working with glass for centuries, but so were the Belgians.

Kronckew is right, glass can be made very hard, but what we don’t know is, did they know this technique then?

[kronckew]

i seem to recall seeing a venetian cup hilt rapier where the cup was made out of glass.

...or was that in a bond film

[Jens Nordlunde]

From the answer on this thread, the number of glass hilts seem to be smaller than I had thought - or maybe the hilts have not been tested.