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#1 |
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Any comments will be welcomed.
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#2 | |
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#3 | |
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The green stones I am pretty sure are glass but the red are rubies and the orange, probably agathe. Last edited by mariusgmioc; 23rd September 2017 at 07:22 AM. |
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#4 | |
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#5 | |
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Cannot send more photos as I am in hospital now... trying to recover from a botched operation for appendicitis. |
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#6 | |
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#7 |
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Any suggestions about its age?
Jens, are you there? |
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#8 |
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Get well!
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#9 |
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Hi Marius,
Speedy recovery:-). I am no specialist on crystal and jade daggers, so I will not try to guess how old the dagger is, but I have some doubt that it is very old. A few things worries me, like the ears of the horse, they are very intact, and why would someone remove the green stones and replace them with green glass, and not at the same time remove the rubies, and replace red glass in stead? I find the way the stones are added somewhat unusual for a high quality Indian dager, why are they not inlaid in the crystal - like they usually are? Marius, when you are fit again, contact a jeweller, and ask him to measure the hilt and the stones for hardness, as he will be able to tell you if the hilt is rock crystal, if the green 'stones' are glass and if the rubies really are rubies. There are, no doubt, daggers made a century or more ago, put in an armoury, and never or very seldom used. These daggers will be intact/very close to intact, but I can not judge this from photos. The chiselling on the blade seems to be very bussy to me, and why did both of us expect the covering metal to be brass? Sorry I could not be of more help Jens |
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#10 | |
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![]() Regarding the green glass, I believe emeralds were much rarer than rubies and that's why we often see Indian blades adorned with a mixture of gems and glass. As soon as I will get out of the hospital and be fit enough will have the dagger checked. However, considering the light diffraction through the hilt, I am pretty sure it is rock crystal. |
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#11 |
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Marius,
You could be right, that the 'green glass' were emeralds, but still quite small, so when you are at it, why not take the rubies as well? I have a dagger where the gems are replaced with glass with coloured metal foil under (cat. pp. 63-64). Jens :-) |
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#12 | |
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I am certain the stones are all original and none were replaced. What I meant was that they were originally a mixture of gems and glass. I have seen this very often in 19-20 century "Mughal" daggers with stone hilts and kundan. Will check again when I will be out of the hospital. Regards, Marius PS: My guess for the age is around 1900. Last edited by mariusgmioc; 25th September 2017 at 10:52 AM. |
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#13 |
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Hi Marius,
It can be very hard to date these hilts, especially from pictures, but I think your guess is correct. Jens |
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#14 |
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Manged to have the stones tested at the jeweler.
Hilt = Quartz Eyes & forehead stone = Rubies (fairly good quality albeit not the best) small red stones = Rubies (low quality; tested just a couple of them as they are carbochon and difficult to test but did a visual exam on the rest) orange stones = probably Aghate but unsure as they are too small green stones = glass While they couldn't be 100% sure they said the mountings appear to be untampered so probably all stones are the originial ones. |
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#17 |
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Marius,
It is interesting about the rubies and the green glass, I wonder why that is? Do you think the silver was made to cover a fault? Maybe the dagger was once dropped, or do you think it is to compensate for the short tang? Jens |
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#18 | |
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Regarding the silver mounting, this is a presentation dagger and definitely not a fighting dagger. In fact, all stone-hilted daggers are not fighting daggers but merely dress/presentation daggers (unless they are full tang). While very hard, stone is at the same time rather fragile and simply dropping the knife on a hard floor may crack and break the hilt, rendering the knife unuseable. This is even more true for rock crystal/quartz which is quite susceptible to cracking at even moderate shocks. This combined with a very short tang mandate for a mounting that would brace the hilt and prevent it from cracking if a shock is applied at an angle relative to te axis of the tang. |
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