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#1 |
Member
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Amarillo Texas
Posts: 21
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Hello all, this is a wonderful resource. I will attempt to place a post with attachments. Please forgive me if I fail miserably; I am a troglodyte who collects ancient things and has a flip phone.
So... This is a small folding knife of possible Italian origin. It reminds me of the marriage gift knives that a groom would give his bride to protect her virtue and to take vengeance on her husband if he strayed. A bond of trust? The mark looks slightly like Consgli, but only slightly. There is a lightly scratched date of 1861 on the blade, whether it is relevant is unknown. What are your opinions of this piece please? |
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#2 |
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Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Buraimi Oman, on the border with the UAE
Posts: 4,408
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It looks related to Italian Folding Knives...Like the item below...The only reference is at https://www.pinterest.com/helmuthwolff/messer/?lp=true but I cannot open the historical notes...
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#3 |
Member
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Amarillo Texas
Posts: 21
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Thank you! That is almost identical to mine. The mark is the same. Wonderful to find it has relatives and is Italian. I will not try to deal with pinterest either.
Regards, Richard. |
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#4 |
Member
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Amarillo Texas
Posts: 21
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Again thank you! I did follow up the Pinterest site and went to couteaux-jfl-com. There is the image, says : Amore knife, Italian, early 1800's. The best thing is that it taught me how to release the lock i.e. pushing to the right. I was prying it upwards; almost impossible.
Cheers! |
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#5 | |
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Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Buraimi Oman, on the border with the UAE
Posts: 4,408
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#6 |
Member
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Australia
Posts: 675
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Richard,
You have a beauty with that knife! Its overall shape screams Spanish but the detail work does not. Could be the work of an expatriate Spanish cutler who, like many, went to France and Italy due to the harassment by authorities of those who pursued this trade. As an aside, small stubby Spanish navajas of this shape nowadays are known as `navaja capadora' As pointed out by Ibrahiim, the detail work has a strong resemblance to those Italian specimens he posted. As well, the lock is atypical for Spain. It could have been made possibly in Italy, France, or elsewhere, but in the Spanish style. I have a 20th century navaja that looks very Spanish, but is more ornate and unusually well made and which was manufactured in France. I had a quick look in Forton's book to see if I could identify the maker's logo/brand but no luck. Will have another look in my others books later on in the day. Cheers Chris |
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#7 |
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Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Australia
Posts: 675
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Richard,
I think that your navaja could be French. The attached book cover is illustrated with one similar to yours and the author attributes it to 19th century France. Unfortunately, I had no luck with the maker's logo. Cheers Chris |
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#8 |
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Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Nothern Mexico
Posts: 458
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"Navaja capadora" originally meant an instrument used by the sheperds to cut the testicles of the male livestock, though of course it also had other uses. Which could have derived to the other meaning: to castrate a man in the defense of the honour by a woman. To this day, small knives are used to castrate the livestock.
Regards |
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#9 | |
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Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Australia
Posts: 675
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Ibrahilm,
Quote:
Cheers Chris |
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#10 |
Member
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Buraimi Oman, on the border with the UAE
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Salaams Chris Evans, Thank you for your excellent response; both fast and accurate. It is rare to find such expertise in this unique niche region of Ethnographic Arms . Thanks for the details...
Regards, Ibrahiim al Balooshi. |
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#11 |
Member
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Amarillo Texas
Posts: 21
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Thank you all for your responses. I thought it was a beaut! Got it on Ebay for $75.00. Some old collector is spinning in their grave.
Regards, Richard |
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#12 |
Member
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Australia
Posts: 675
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Ibrahiim,
It is my pleasure to have been able to assist in some small way. Cheers Chris |
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#13 |
Lead Moderator European Armoury
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Portugal
Posts: 9,694
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Perhaps copying this thread to the Ethno section will better discussion possibilties.
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#14 |
Member
Join Date: Oct 2019
Posts: 7
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Hi Richard I have important info for you. Write to me. mark.guerra@libero.it
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#15 | |
Keris forum moderator
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Nova Scotia
Posts: 7,095
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Very nice example i suspect, though i don't know much about these. ![]() |
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#16 | |
Member
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: California
Posts: 1,036
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It is for this reason that cutlers and gunsmiths working in southern Italy developed a regional style that was heavily Spanish-influenced in terms of functional form and of aesthetics, and very distinct from those of the regions further north. Yet it was not slavish imitation; in detail the local imagination is apparent. These knives are attractive and of considerable interest not only to knife collectors but to those interested in the ethnography and craft traditions of Mediterranean Europe. Though weapons from this region do not have the collector cachet of those made further north, quality could be quite high, as exemplified by the sporting arms made at the Fabbrica Reale di Napoli. These folding knives can be looked at in the same light as cup-hilt rapiers, whose popularity in Italy lay only among the Hispanicized elite, as opposed to their universal appeal on the Iberian Peninsula (and in variant form, in Spanish territories in the Americas). Last edited by Philip; 6th November 2020 at 06:38 AM. Reason: add title |
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