[Joshua Cunningham]

I'm a newbie and not a weapons collector. However I've inherited a pair of daggers which appear to be left handed parrying daggers, and would like to try to find out if they are authentic or perhaps Victorian era copies. I make my living as a metalworker, doing primarily ornamental work, and it is clear to me they are both hand made. From what little research I've done they appear to be of Italian origin I'm fairly sure my grandmother brought them back from France, where she served as a nurse during WW1, so they're at least 90 years old.

I'm not interested in selling them, even if they are reproductions they are very nice handwork, and so satisfying, if a little humbling, to have. I'd like to find out if they're valuable and if they are how to care for them properly. How do I go about this? Is there any easy way to determine if they are reproductions?

Thank you.

[Ken Speed]

Josh,


Rive gauche means left bank and refers most often to a particular section of Paris, main gauche is what , I believe, you meant and translates literally as left hand. I'm sure there are others better versed in French than am I who can give you help with the language.

There are many here who have a literally encyclopedic knowledge about edged weapons but they will really need photographs before they can advise you about your daggers.

[D. Shane Burton]

Yes, Joshua, we really need pictures, but here's a link to website that carries real main gauches/left hand daggers. There are at least four on this page I'm linking you to, and there are multiple pages I haven't checked. There is a french, a spanish, and two Italian blades I remember seeing. Click on each of them for a page containing more pictures of them. Hopefully, one of these may be similar to yours, if they're authentic:

http://faganarms.com/weapons_arms_armor/europ...apons.aspx

Get some pictures up if you can,
Shane