Are there any historical examples of the rondels of a dagger having designs "pierced" or etched onto them? Would brass be a common material for the rondels?

Cole,

A little delayed, but I know piercing was used as a common technique in the era when rondel daggers were fashionable.

I would say, yes.

Brass as a common material? That's a little more tricky. There was a material called "latten," which roughly equates to brass. We may be getting into differences at the molecular level if we say that modern brass is not appropriate for replica weaponry.

Best

John

Jehan de Pelham, esquire
Compagniye du Chalis: 1370-1420
www.mron.org

Pierced pommels of the rondel daggers were common. There are examples with pieced grips as well. Those two characteristics seemed to have been common in England. As far as pierced blades were concerned, I cannot really comment though I would not be surprised if it was done. Brass (laten) was definitely used for decoration on the blades, but I suspect that this was more common in 15th and later centuries. For some examples check the "rondel spotlight " article we have, if you have not done that already.

Alexi

oops. I posted at the same time as Chad.