[Jacob R. Arnold]

I bought this dagger a few months back and was wondering what country and year it would fall under? Or is it fantasy?

[Lin Robinson]

Probably modern made and that is all I can tell you.

[Nathan Robinson]

No doubt it's modern made. I think he's asking if it would be associated to anything historical. And the answer, with all things considered, is no, not really.

[Glen A Cleeton]

Contemporary knifemaker made. I don't recognize the form of fashion as belonging to anyone I am familiar with but fashionable, with a heavily etched folded steel blade. A nod to the "mosaic" pin in the handle (tubes within a tube) show someone was trying at least. Often marketed at a lot of money for these types of art daggers from well known (or even beginning) knifemakers.

What was it sold as and where did you happen across it? Are there any marks in the metal parts at all that might be a hallmark or maker's mark of sorts?

www.bladefourms.com and www.knifeforums.com have a lot of traffic of both knifemakers and their customers. Posting to those two boards may yield someone familiar with a style familiar to an individual. The single mosaic pin is not unique but moer often replace the use of other pins, so it may have been a specific commission someone had made at some point and later sold on the secondary market with the first origin lost in the transactions.

If it has a JS somewhere on the blade, it may have been made by a journeyman smith in the American Bladesmith Society offering up an example of his work for evaluation or even an early student of that group sharing the same type of example before testing/evaluation.. That may explain a kind of odd combination of forms put together to show ability and finish.

Cheers

GC

A Kevin Cashen Journeyman Smith mark and example

[Ron Reuter]

The guard and handle appear to have been reused from an MRL sliver hilted dagger.

http://www.museumreplicas.com/p-288-silver-hilted-dagger.aspx

There is a mention that the Mrl silver hilted dagger can be seen in the book "European Daggers" by Basfford Dean.

I do like the looks of your dagger, the handle is very nice.

Ron

[Glen A Cleeton]

Good eyes and catch Ron. I wonder if Windlass has the rest (blades, pins and such) in their aprts catalog at Atlanta Cutlery.

Cheers

GC

[Jacob R. Arnold]

I happened across this dagger on eBay. The maker of the dagger is Michael Axe and the name is engraved right below the hilt. It also came with a hand made sheath that i believe he made also. I was able to purchase it for $140 which I thought was a screaming deal noting that it is Damascus and all.

Thanks for the info, interesting to know that the handle is second hand.

[Lin Robinson]