Reworked corvo
 

This one finished recently online and was described as a "Canary Island knife," presumably because of the multi-colored stacked hilt. The seller hedged his bets by also including "Spanish colonial," "Mediterranean dirk," and "Bowie" in the description. ;)

The hilt most closely resembles those found on older corvo, and I believe that this knife is a reshaped corvo, possibly one that suffered a broken or damaged tip. For comparison is shown a web picture of a corvo said to date from the War of the Pacific. The War of the Pacific was a nasty real estate dispute in which Chile fought against Peru and Bolivia (1879–1884) over part of the Atacama Desert, which Chile eventually won. The corvo figured prominently in that conflict and became much feared for the devastating wounds it caused.

Ian.

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A Corvo that I have, for comparison.

Ian and Mel,
What are the lengths of the straight parts of the blades of your convos?

Here my new acquired corvo, it's 9 1/4" long overall with a blade from 4 3/4".

Hello Mel,

can you please add a picture where you can see the complete knife?

Thank you,
Detlef

Ariel and Sajen, The only other photo that I have at the moment is too large to upload. I'll sort it out this week and take another photo at a lower resolution and take some measurements.
Mel.

Ariel:

Neither of the knives I show is mine. The length of the spine on the refashioned example is just under 3 inches, as shown by the accompanying ruler used as a scale. Corvo range in size considerably. I have examples with blades as short as 3.75 inches and as long as 8.25 inches. In my experience these are definitely knives and not short swords.

Sajen:

Nice example of an older version. Perhaps late 19th C but probably early 20th C.

Ian.

Thank you Ian! :)

Regards,
Detlef

A couple more pics as promised.

Just have received another corvo, it is a little bit smaller with 8" as the other one.

The both side by side.

And a third one which entered the collection recently!

Hi Ian,

After looking again to this knife in question I don't think that it is a reshaped corvo, the spine look to straight to my eyes, when it would be indeed a reshaped corvo it would has been a rather big one.
And since I've bought the three examples shown in up for my collection I've done some research and think that I've seen a very similar knife shown with some other corvos but sadly can't find it anymore. :shrug:

Regards,
Detlef

Hi Detlef.

I'm pretty sure the blade has been reworked but you could be correct. It would need to have been a large corvo to start with. What tilts me towards a reworked end of a corvo is the back of the knife at the tip. I think you can see a few mm of the remnants of the original down-curved spine--the deep clip does not go all the way to the point but ends a little way up the spine. That seems a sign to me that the tip has been reworked.

Ian.

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/attach...id=65298&stc=1

Was this the one that you remembered?

n2s

No, sorry, don't think so, it was pictured with other corvos together.

Regards,
Detlef

There are more shown in this old thread.

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ighlight=spain

n2s

I've found it but my remembering wasn't correct, it wasn't shown with other corvos together. But it is very similar to the one shown by Ian: http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...=canary+island

I agree Detlef. Another reworked corvo. The bolster and stacked hilt are clearly indicative of its origins. The curious shape to the tip is also present on this one, reflecting the downward curve on the original blade.

I (finally) figured out how to make curved lines on Pics using my new graphics program (Affinity Pro)--not the most intuitive one I have used but it works well when I finally figure out how to do stuff.

Anyway, here is my guess at what the profile of the corvo in the first post on this thread would have been. The original blade length would have been between 5 and 6 inches in my estimation, well within the known length for these knives. While there are a number of bolster designs for these knives, it may not be coincidental that the knife shown by Detlef with a reworked blade and the one in the original post of this thread have identical bolsters. It's possible they were brothers made with similar, poorly forged blades--hence the breakage and reworking of the tips. Just a thought--we will never know for sure.

Ian.
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Some time ago entered this dagger the collection, it was a gift from a very good friend, it could be another reworked corvo but it could be worked also like we see it now. Without doubt it's a Chilean dagger, the stagged hilt is in my opinion the giveaway.

Hi Detlef:

I agree, a Chilean hilt and bolster, but the central positioning of the bolster on the blade suggests to me that this might not be a reworked corvo.

Ian

Hi Ian,

exactly what I think by self. Some time ago was listed by epray another straight dagger from Chile, this one with guard but it went to a very high price which I wasn't willing to pay.

Regards,
Detlef

The next corvo in my collection! Only a seller picture, the blade is clean now and the handle polished.

There is a whole family of similar knives with the sharp working edge being on the concave side of the blade. Most of them are “oriental”: Yemeni Janbia, Arab-Persian khanjar, Sumatran karambit, Indian bank. With a little bit of imagination one can suggest some common origin.

But what about Chilean corvo? Was it a descendant of Maghribi koummya (khanjar) brought by the Spaniards all the way to South America or just a parallel development?
Taking into account the “ Mediterranean” handle I tend to lean toward the former.

Hello Ariel,
I don't think so, it was rather a farmers knife in old times similar to the German hippe. See also what Wikipedia tell us: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corvo_(knife)
Attached is a picture from European antique Hippen, taken from the net.

Regards,
Detlef

Another, more meaningful picture

Wow!
Never heard of them.
Although in retrospect I should have recalled Roman sica and pruning knives.

Thanks for a new way of thinking!

Hello Ariel,

The thank have to went to Ian! ;) All what is known about this knives he write down once in this thread: http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ighlight=corvo

I've only tried to make it more visible by showing a in the complete world under many different names known knife used as tool.
That such tools can develop to a weapon happened not only in Chile, look to Indonesia, Madura where the celurit has a similar devolopment: http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...hlight=celurit

Regards,
Detlef