[Nathan Robinson]

Hey everybody-

Several years ago when I was able to assemble the spotlight featured articles for the Rondel Dagger and Ballock Dagger, I became very intrigued with something found in each article's introduction.

Both articles mention the five basic dagger forms found in use during the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance:


Ballock dagger, baselard, quillon dagger, ear dagger, and rondel dagger


And so began my quest to assemble my own representative collection of these families of daggers. I have a bit of overlap of the styles so I have a couple versions to show. This took a long time and a bunch of effort from the makers so I hope you guys enjoy the results. I know I sure do.

Putting this together has made me really appreciate daggers far more than I once did. Not only are they more affordable to collect than swords and many other items, they demonstrate a great amount of diversity of style, function, and handling properties. Having a variety of these items available and at hand makes for some very interesting comparative analysis.


First group, top photo, left to right:
Tod's Stuff Low Countries Ballock Dagger, Tod's Stuff Baselard with boxwood grip, Peter Johnsson Medieval Dagger, Arma Bohemia Ear Dagger, and Arma Bohemia All-Metal Rondel Dagger






Second group, top photo, left to right:
Tod's Stuff Low Countries Ballock Dagger, Arma Bohemia Baselard, Peter Johnsson Medieval Dagger, Arma Bohemia Ear Dagger, and Arma Bohemia Composite Rondel Dagger

[Sam Gordon Campbell]

That is an awesome spectrum of steel
Wish I had but one of any of those.

[A. Gallo]

Very tasteful collection.

There's such variety in daggers. We see in them the wild artistic directions many people mistakenly/fantasically attribute to swords, which tended (not all) to be more utilitarian/Spartan - even something you were 'issued'. Daggers were the most intimate and personalized weapons, something you (literally) ate and slept with, and it's evident.

Quillons were my first love, but there are enough Rondels on here for the latter to have grown on me.

[Taylor Ellis]

That PJ dagger is sooo nice.

I'm actually finding knives and daggers are capturing my interest much more than swords of late. Not only for the reasons already given, but I find daggers from around the world often exemplify a unique snapshot of the aesthetic of the culture that produced it. quillon daggers like the one above are my favourite, but I also like rondels, Tibetan Phurbas, and those wierd Chinese axe-daggers.

[Jack W. Englund]

"Bringing those blades to "Life = FANTASTIC. What a Project & THANKS for sharing.

Jack

[Carl W.]

Maybe you missed a couple? :-)
http://www.myArmoury.com/review_tod_bwbaselard.html

[Nathan Robinson]

[Maurizio D'Angelo]

My god that collection.
I hope that envy is not a great sin. If so, now I'm very sinning.

[Chad Arnow]

I used to think I had a great dagger collection until I saw this. It's a great collection of pieces.

I'm not as into Renaissance daggers, so ear daggers haven't made their way into my collection. I also haven't found a baselard that really excites me. So mine is incomplete and less representative of the era.

Oh well.

Consider adding one of these pics to the thread Daggers in your collection to help fill it out.

[Ryan Renfro]

That's the best set of daggers I've ever seen, Nathan. Hope you do extend it!

[Matthew Stagmer]

A fantastic representation of the 5 types. Thanks for sharing.

[Roger Hooper]

I particularly like the Peter Johnsson quillon dagger and the Arma Bohemia baselard. I hope you add the latter to your collection gallery soon so I can see more photos of it.

[Scott Kowalski]

That is a great representation of daggers through the years Nathan. Color me jealous as it by and far makes my collection of 2 look quite small. Though as with Chad the later era daggers are not as much of interest to me though nice none the less!

[Nathan Robinson]

[Chad Arnow]

[Chad Arnow]

Here's my own attempt at a representative collection of daggers. Since my collection focuses on 1000-1450 AD (or so), I feel the sax needs inclusion and the ear dagger (a Renaissance form in my mind) does not.

With the acquisition of my A&A custom Swiss Dagger/Early Baselard, I now have a full set. Actually, if I had another member from the baselard/Swiss dagger family and another sax, I'd have two full sets.

[Jeremy V. Krause]

That's a great dagger collection Nathan and Chad,

Such a wonderful concept for a display somewhere in the home.

I love the idea of a, more-or-less complete "slice" of the A&A pie. If only I had more discipline in my purchasing I could put together this kind of collection- but something always catches my fancy and takes me off course.

What a great discussion focus or even teaching opportunity to have in one's home for an interested visitor. As a collector more than a practitioner, my collection is all about the "show and tell" aspect.

BRAVO!

[Chad Arnow]

Jeremy,
Thanks! It's been fun putting it together over the years. I just realized I have quite a variety of cross-sections represented:

Diamond section: A&A rondel, A&A quillon dagger
Fullered diamond: Tod's Stuff quillon dagger
Square (so diamond it's edgeless): Arma Bohemia ballock dagger
Single-edge triangular: Tod sax, English Cutler ballock
Fullered Single-edge triangular: Tod rondel dagger, Vince Evans dirk (too late for this thread)
Double-edged triangular: A&A Swiss dagger

Is that a wide cross-section of cross-sections?

[Tim Lison]

Nice to see your collection Chad. I love that long rondel...