Dutch navy poniard?

[cel7]

I bought this poniard last week. It is clear to me that it is a navy poniard and probably Dutch. The use of a poniard with the same type of grip was also fashionable for a while in the British, French and Russian navies. The strange thing, however, is that it has a shield with a lion leaning on an anchor. Now I thought I would manage to find this emblem somewhere but it just gave me a headache. I continued my search across the border and the only thing that looks like it (so far) is the coat of arms of Düsseldorf in Germany. However, that lion has a double tail and no sword in its claw (In addition, it would be strange that a coat of arms from Düsseldorf would be on a poniard like this).
The poniard is almost 50 cm long and has a triangular blade. Marked with B.S.B, which stands for Benjamin Schimmelbusch Solingen.
Does anyone recognize the emblem on the shield?

[Pertinax]

Бавария? Но Бавария не имела выхода к морю. Возможно, речной флот?

Bavaria? But Bavaria had no access to the sea. Perhaps the river fleet?

[cel7]

Originally Posted by Pertinax

Бавария? Но Бавария не имела выхода к морю. Возможно, речной флот?

Bavaria? But Bavaria had no access to the sea. Perhaps the river fleet?

Thank you Pertinax! It looks similar, but this lion also has a double tail and leans on a shield instead of an anchor.
I am from the Netherlands myself and for the time being I assume it is Dutch. It's strange though, that I don't know the lion in this configuration.

[Jim McDougall]

I am really confused....what does Bavaria have to do with this?
Dusseldorf, as already pointed out, uses this style lion & ANCHOR as arms.
Why would this be on a naval 'type' dirk?
Dusseldorf was a port with vessels navigating the Rhine River.

This seems to be an assembled naval style dirk, following British and French sword hilt styles of late 18th century, usually on military spadroons. The lozenge element at center on the ivory hilt recalls the 'cigar band' style element on the British examples.
The blade does seem Solingen, and of course likely the trefoil blade of a small sword which has been cut down.
The interesting triangular guard plate with the cast lion is contrary to anything seen on typical naval dirks, nothing was found in either Puype, or Annis & May to correspond.

The initials B.S.B. do not seem to represent a Solingen maker, and I cannot locate a Benjamin Schimmelbusch in any of the makers compendiums listing all the Schimmelbusch makers in the dynasty.
I have to ask how B.S.B. translates to Benjamin Schimmelbusch, Solingen, is it an anagram?

Not to be contrary, its an attractive and interesting piece, but just trying to follow the elements in discussion.

[cel7]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

I am really confused....what does Bavaria have to do with this?
Dusseldorf, as already pointed out, uses this style lion & ANCHOR as arms.
Why would this be on a naval 'type' dirk?
Dusseldorf was a port with vessels navigating the Rhine River.

This seems to be an assembled naval style dirk, following British and French sword hilt styles of late 18th century, usually on military spadroons. The lozenge element at center on the ivory hilt recalls the 'cigar band' style element on the British examples.
The blade does seem Solingen, and of course likely the trefoil blade of a small sword which has been cut down.
The interesting triangular guard plate with the cast lion is contrary to anything seen on typical naval dirks, nothing was found in either Puype, or Annis & May to correspond.

The initials B.S.B. do not seem to represent a Solingen maker, and I cannot locate a Benjamin Schimmelbusch in any of the makers compendiums listing all the Schimmelbusch makers in the dynasty.
I have to ask how B.S.B. translates to Benjamin Schimmelbusch, Solingen, is it an anagram?

Not to be contrary, its an attractive and interesting piece, but just trying to follow the elements in discussion.

Thanks for your response Jim! Indeed, Bavaria has nothing to do with it and neither does Dusseldorf. But because I was looking for a lion resting on a standing anchor, I came across the coat of arms of Dusseldorf. I mentioned that because it looks a bit similar, not because I think the emblem is the same.
Benjamin Schimmelbusch (B.S.B) (1749-1826) was a swordsmith from Solingen. He was a brother of Abraham (A.S.B) and Johannes (I.S.B). Several weapons are known from him.

[Jim McDougall]

Actually as you say, there is no reason to think this is a naval poniard (dirk) just because of the lion with anchor.....but it is compelling that this lion with anchor is the arms of Dusseldorf.
For that reason I would suspect that the poniard/dirk might be somehow connected to Dusseldorf......unless of course there are other entities represented by the lion and anchor........guess its time to hit the heraldry books!

Bavaria.......I could not find that in any of the conversation text, so that threw me a bit.....also about 'Bavarian' access to sea etc.

This is certainly a 'one off' item, and some work went into creating it.

May I ask what resource names Benjamin ? and why the 'B' addendum after the initials of these men?

[cel7]

I suspect the B addition stands for Busch, so they split their last name. But I'm not 100% sure. Maybe someone else has details about that?
I learned that B.S.B stands for Benjamin Schimmelbusch from the Dutch site below (unfortunately this is only partially accessible).

https://www.sabels.net/?view=category&id=16

It is also mentioned on this site, also in Dutch by the way.

https://wapensverzamel.blogspot.com/2019/01/

[corrado26]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall[B

B;287664]why the 'B' addendum after the initials of these men?

I think cel7 is right stating that "ASB" stands for Alexander [/B]SchimmelBusch.
In the "Geschichte der Klingenindustrie Solingens" 1885 by Cronau is to be found a swordsmith named "CLAUBERG" whose sign was "F.CB", the "CB" is certainly standing for ClauBerg

[corrado26]

In my opinion, the coat of arms on the saber has nothing to do with Düsseldorf, the differences are too important as can be easily seen from the two illustrations. The lion on the sword holder holds a sword in his raised right hand and leans on an anchor with his left, this sword detail lacks the Düsseldorf lion, but instead has a forked tail. The lion, on the other hand, is very similar in basic shape to the lion in the Brabant coat of arms. Over that both crowns are very different, the anchor-lion wears a duke's crown very well fitting to the duchy of Brabant, the Düsseldorf lion's crown is that of a baron!

[Jim McDougall]

Udo, thank you for the clarification. I see what you mean on the Dusseldorf lion etc. so while the similarity is compelling, clearly not directly associated. The 'anchor' seems to often create misperception presuming naval connotation.

Also,on the splitting of the name spelling. That explains it, and Cel7 thanks again for the responses.

[Richard G]

I believe the Coat of Arms of the Netherlands contains a crowned lion wielding a sword; a symbol of the monarch. The other hand should be grasping a bunch of arrows. This is difficult to distinguish on this dirk.
Perhaps in this case the fact that the lion is leaning on an anchor merely indicates a naval connection rather than being an integral part of the coat of arms and it is simply, as originally thought, a dutch naval dirk.

Best wishes

Richard

[cel7]

Originally Posted by Richard G

I believe the Coat of Arms of the Netherlands contains a crowned lion wielding a sword; a symbol of the monarch. The other hand should be grasping a bunch of arrows. This is difficult to distinguish on this dirk.
Perhaps in this case the fact that the lion is leaning on an anchor merely indicates a naval connection rather than being an integral part of the coat of arms and it is simply, as originally thought, a dutch naval dirk.

Best wishes

Richard

Thanks for your response Richard!

[Hotspur]

What about Finland guys?



Bavaria has river police. The Rhine flows to the Meuse.

Cheers
GC