Ear dagger

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

Further, as well noted by Fernando:

From "Arms and Armour of Spain: A Short Survey"
Ada Bruhn de Hoffmeyer, p.200

"...the Spanish dagger above all, is however the ear dagger".

"...the eared dagger is of oriental origin. Very probably it has its origin in Iran or at the borders of the Caspian Sea. Its earliest forerunners are to be found in Luristan among eared daggers of the Bronze Age. Later time Iranian specimens with grips of ornamented silver from about 400-600AD have almost the same shape as the Spanish types. They may also be called the prototypes of the ear dagger. It came to Europe with the Moors of Andalusia and partly with the Saracen artisans working in Venice. "



Clearly this classic form is found in antiquity, and was replicated in commemoration of these traditional daggers at various times over the centuries.
It seems well established that the 19th century replicas of these forms have indeed become antiques in their own right.

I was reading Ada Bruhn de Hoffmeyer thus you beat me to it Jim ! See https://books.google.com.om/books?id...dagger&f=false and a picture below and some ear daggers...Amazing that these as a style appear to have originated in Luristan ...

[Reventlov]

Another interesting reference is a 1964 article by J.J. Rodriguez Lorente, which suggests criteria for distinguishing ear daggers of Moorish, Spanish, and Venetian craftsmanship.

The XVth Century Ear Dagger. Its Hispano-Moresque origin

The article mentions a large collection of daggers held by the Museo Lazaro Galdiano. Nine daggers appear in the museum's online catalogue:

Museo Lazaro Galdiano

A little drawing by Hans Schaufelein (c. 1510) shows that Northerners were also aware of this style of dagger, and made use of it at least as an "exotic" artistic element.

Hans Schaufelein, Archer Drawing His Bow

[Reventlov]

Check out this one... auctioned by Czerny's in March 2010, estimated at €18,000, went for €210,000. Then in October of the same year, resold at Sotheby's for more than €4,200,000!

Czerny's, March 2010
Sotheby's, October 2010

On the hilt, between the ears, the dagger bears what appears to be the Nasrid coat of arms. The same arms (and same maker's mark of an orb-and-cross) appear on other daggers, such as one in the Bargello.