- Collection type
- Object
- Description
- 17th century style European left-hand dagger with double-edged steel blade etched with a foliate pattern. Wire bound grip, cross guard with side ring.
- Date / Period
- Date made: Before 1929
- Date collected
- By 1929
- Acquisition information
- Purchased: 1929
- Materials and processes
- Material Steel Metal, Material Metal Wire, Material Iron Metal, Process Bound, Process Etched, Process Forged (Metal)
- Dimensions
- Width: max 160 mm, Length: max 440 mm
- Object numbers
- Accession number: 1929.92.1
- Research and responses
Information provided by archaeologist and historian Matt Easton who runs the Schola Gladiatoria channel on YouTube:
This is a late-16th to 17th century left-hand dagger in form (used with a rapier in the other hand), but I suspect that it's a 19th century replica (or pre-1929 in this case) rather than a genuine 17th century example. The reason I say that is the form of the pommel and guard and the style of the acid etching on the blade. Though it's harder to judge with certainty from a photo than in person.
Both rapiers and left-hand daggers were in large demand from collectors in the 19th century (to decorate mansions) and so various sword making centres filled the gap in the market, often selling them as genuine older ones. In fact there are such antique replicas in various collections, most notably the Wallace Collection, where some of them were taken to be original until more recent scholarship. As for where it was made, this isn't a nationally specific style, it's difficult to say as it's kind of generically 'Continental', but there is a good chance it was made by one of the large workshops in Paris. Many were made in Toledo and Solingen, but it doesn't look particularly Spanish or German. The other possibility is one of the workshops in Italy, usually Milan, Florence or Brescia.
The original description - "Left hand dagger with two-edged steel blade etched with a foliate pattern. Wire bound grip, cross guard with thumb ring. [LM 17/04/2007]" - is not completely accurate for a number of reasons. The ring is actually a side ring, not a thumb ring, and they are actually held with that ring on the opposite side to the thumb, to protect the knuckles. It's a common error I have seen in auction descriptions!
In an auction context I'd personally put something like "17th century style European left hand dagger with double-edged steel blade etched with a foliate pattern. Wire bound grip, cross guard with side ring." Saying 'style' is shorthand for us to say we don't fully trust the dating - hedging our bets!
1929.92.1
17th century style European left-hand dagger with double-edged steel blade etched with a foliate pattern. Wire bound grip, cross guard with side ring.
On display
1929.92.1
Digital asset copyright: Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford
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