myArmoury.com - Help with dating and ID'ing a dagger.

Posts: 193

Mon 21 Jan, 2019 3:46 am

Help with dating and ID'ing a dagger.

Can somebody help me with some questions about this dagger?

1) Is this a rondel dagger? (the end plate says yes but the looped hilt plate has me wondering)
2) The museum catalogue dates this thing 1400-1500 but the loop hilt indicates to me more like 1470-1550?
3) Any guesses as to where this was made? Germany is a prime candidate but the UK might also be, it is also possibly an Italian export.
4) There is no sign of a second loop that might have broken off but I might be wrong, did these things usually have one or two loops?

The knife was found with a small by-knife that seems to have been slipped through the loop in the hilt into a side or 'pocket' scabbard attached to the dagger sheath.

Thanks to anybody who takes the time to answer.

[ Linked Image ][/img]

Attachment: 203.12 KB
[ Download ]

Profile PM

Kristjan Runarsson

Quote

Posts: 193

Mon 21 Jan, 2019 4:15 am

Also this is supposedly a piece of the above dagger. I'm wondering if it is a lobe that used to be on the hilt on opposite side to the loop?

Attachment: 36.5 KB

Profile PM

Kai Lawson

Quote

Posts: 589

Mon 21 Jan, 2019 5:38 am

That looks like a ‘Landsknecht’ dagger to me. You can search the forums here for original and recreation examples.

Profile PM

Kristjan Runarsson

Quote

Posts: 193

Mon 21 Jan, 2019 7:01 am

Kai Lawson wrote:

That looks like a ‘Landsknecht’ dagger to me. You can search the forums here for original and recreation examples.

That's what I figured. Any idea what the little eyelet in the broken off lobe was for?

Profile PM

Victor R.

Quote

Posts: 364 Location: Klein, Texas

Mon 21 Jan, 2019 6:37 pm

It looked familiar. It's along the same lines as the dagger that inspired this repro by Tod.

https://myArmoury.com/dagg_tod_landsk.html

Profile PM

Kristjan Runarsson

Quote

Posts: 193

Tue 22 Jan, 2019 2:20 am

Victor R. wrote:

It looked familiar. It's along the same lines as the dagger that inspired this repro by Tod.

https://myArmoury.com/dagg_tod_landsk.html

I agree, so mine is probably German, dated 1480-1560 or something like that, not 1400-1500 like the museum catalogue says. I am going to make a re-pro too although my original is not quite as nicely made as yours seems to have been. I'll have to go back to the museum and check if that lobe might have been broken off the opposite side of the dagger's hilt before I go hunting for an old wheel saw blade or something to make my re-pro out of. What did you make your blade out of? Spring steel blanks are almost impossible to get in my neck of the woods. All I can get is huge 6 mm blanks thick bars of spring steel or bits and pieces of scrap metal. Other than that all the steel re-sellers seem to have is iron, stainless and C20 mild steel.

Profile PM

Victor R.

Quote

Posts: 364 Location: Klein, Texas

Tue 22 Jan, 2019 8:01 pm

Kristjan Runarsson wrote:

Victor R. wrote:

It looked familiar. It's along the same lines as the dagger that inspired this repro by Tod.

https://myArmoury.com/dagg_tod_landsk.html

I agree, so mine is probably German, dated 1480-1560 or something like that, not 1400-1500 like the museum catalogue says. I am going to make a re-pro too although my original is not quite as nicely made as yours seems to have been. I'll have to go back to the museum and check if that lobe might have been broken off the opposite side of the dagger's hilt before I go hunting for an old wheel saw blade or something to make my re-pro out of. What did you make your blade out of? Spring steel blanks are almost impossible to get in my neck of the woods. All I can get is huge 6 mm blanks thick bars of spring steel or bits and pieces of scrap metal. Other than that all the steel re-sellers seem to have is iron, stainless and C20 mild steel.

You would need to check with Tod and Nathan for any particulars that aren't noted in the description - my only connection to it is a decent memory that it was out there somewhere. :D

Profile PM