Ironmongery for comment

[colin henshaw]

I found this small group of iron objects in England, earlier in the year and bought it mainly for the Athabascan dagger which I like. The dagger hilt is wrapped with cord over wood, which is probably a replacement ? The cord has the remains of a black substance, that could be the tar or resin used by sailors for ropes, rigging etc. I wonder if perhaps the dagger at least was owned by a seaman, perhaps from a whaler ?

The two blacksmith's ? tools are also interesting, does anyone recognize them and what they were used for ?

Comments and possible I.D. are welcome.

I am also posting this on the miscellaneous forum.

[machinist]

the pliers are a Cobblers Combination Pliers.

[edited]Here's a picture.

[Battara]

The dagger is from the Athabaskan tribe from the USA and Canada. It looks like it is made of steel instead of copper.

The hand wrap might be a replacement, or original to this if it is a later example. In any case the wrap is not traditional as far as I know.

[Ian]

Machinist is correct. The pliers are a common tool used by shoemakers. They are combination tools, with a hammer and pliers, and sometimes one of the handles has a "bent fork" at the end to aid in manipulating the leather pieces.

A quick search on eBay produced a number of inexpensive examples similar to yours. This style of tool has been around for hundreds of years although I think your example may be late 19th or early 20th C--but its hard to say.

Your lot seems to be a collection of unrelated ironware, but I like the dagger a lot.

Ian

[colin henshaw]

Browsing the internet.. I see the curling hilt finials to my dagger are similar to those on some dagger and sword hilts in the European bronze and iron ages. Mere coincidence ?

[fernando]

Originally Posted by Ian

Machinist is correct. The pliers are a common tool used by shoemakers.... This style of tool has been around for hundreds of years although I think your example may be late 19th or early 20th C--but its hard to say...

I remember being a kid, standing by and watch my next door shoemaker using it with full skill .

[Battara]

Originally Posted by colin henshaw

Browsing the internet.. I see the curling hilt finials to my dagger are similar to those on some dagger and sword hilts in the European bronze and iron ages. Mere coincidence ?

Yes. The types of daggers that you have pictured are Celtic from around the Hallstadt cultures period in Europe. These are often called "antenna" daggers.

The dagger in question is from the Canadian section of North America. Here is a picture of one from Skinner Auctions and a link to one our threads on the forum:

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=18872

And sometimes these were made of iron, or recycled steel files.

[David]

I would agree with José here. This definitely looks like a Northwest Native blade. Here's some discussion of one with a copper blade.
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=18874

[colin henshaw]

Thanks to those who input on this group of items. For interest, here is an image of the Athabascan dagger after cleaning.

[Battara]

Very very nice! You can see the artistic details better!

[Sajen]

Great result and a very nice dagger!

Here a similar one in copper: http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...hlight=tlingit

[Tim Simmons]

Lucky you, that is really nice to have.