Posts: 33 Location: California
Wed 04 Jun, 2025 4:44 pm
Scottish Dirks Identification Age
I am trying to find the age or era of the manufacturing of these
Scottish dirks.
I have had the smaller one for a while, and for some reason, I assumed it was late Victorian. I recently added the larger one to my collection, and have tried to find a similar version online. Perhaps these both are Edwardian or even later?
I would love another set of eyes. There are no hallmarks whatsoever. Probably because there is no silver on it. The metal fittings are a type of nickel, perhaps? Anyway, here they are:
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Posts: 33 Location: California
Wed 04 Jun, 2025 4:51 pm
Here?s a close up of the handles:
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Posts: 362
Mon 09 Jun, 2025 4:33 am
I probably can't tell you anything you don't already know, but since it's been a few days, I'll put my two cents in.
That does look like nickel silver, if it's as yellow as it looks in the photos (I doubt it's nickel plate, because pure nickel is less yellow). In the absence of any identifying marks, and assuming the materials are all "real" (quartz cairngorms, wood grips, real leather, carbon steel blades), I'm not sure there's any way to tell the period because I've seen similar-looking ones described as anything from early Victorian to post-WWI. The one thing that stands out to me is the simplicity of the fittings, since most of them seem to have more ornate decorations in higher relief than these, but whether that's an indication of age and if so what age, I don't know enough to say.
Posts: 371 Location: Klein, Texas
Mon 09 Jun, 2025 11:38 am
Like Dan, I was waiting for others to weigh in - not an area I have expertise in, but I observe a lot and like to dig in and research new things at times.
Some things made me think more modern reproduction, but I can't find any that match fully - the ones that look most like the larger have more ornate fittings and the grip shapes are a little different. The very simple belt loop on the larger is much like what Scottish Trading Company does, and they seem to have had different levels of items over time, but that doesn't really mean anything.
If you're on Facebook, I'd suggest you join the Macdonald Armouries group. It's public, but it does ask you a few questions to weed out the obvious spammers and some of the scammers. Lots of knowledgeable people there and someone might be able to give you chapter and verse on these. With this site not accepting new members for nearly five years, and the heavy drop in traffic over the last ten, it might not get seen here by the people that know the most about something like this item.
Posts: 33 Location: California
Mon 09 Jun, 2025 1:11 pm
Dirk
That is very helpful information. Thank you.
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