Knife for I.D. - U.S. ?

[colin henshaw]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

This is a very attractive frontier knife and as Mark has well described, there are a number of elements which may help in discerning where this blade might be from. There is no doubt it is a repurposed and refitted blade, and likely from mid 19th c. as Mark suggests.

As he notes, the distinct forte is not typically seen on blades of Spanish colonial espada anchas, however, these geometric markings are of almost exact style I have seen on numbers of them, usually late 18th into early 19th c.
The ones I have seen were from New Mexico regions, but trade and activity from there traveled into the mid US plains states.

The spear point type blade is consistent with many 19th c. trade/frontier knives found with not only frontiersmen, but American Indians and blades were always at a premium, so could be re profiled as required from many host blades.

Thanks Jim, can you recommend any literature or museum websites etc., for the study of such knives ?