[Leo Todeschini]

HI All,

This is a quillon dagger that I have just posted up on Face Book and as a few of people have brought up, the dating is a little questionable, so please let me know your thoughts on the dates.

The dating was provided by the eBay and museum sites, but it does seem a little odd, so here is my FB post text.

"14thC quillon dagger with nagel.

The excellent Christian Cameron put me onto this dagger from eBay, at which point I assumed it was a fake, as I had never seen anything like it before, but there are two UK museums that have very similar pieces in their collections, so it is a real piece, just at least 150 years before I have seen this sort of feature on a dagger.

Bronze guard with octagonal arms and a flattened 'shell' shaped nagel. The pommel is also bronze and is hollow and the grip is box wood.

The blade is single edged with a faceted false edge from tip to guard.

The scabbard is in double layer vegan leather with a mythical beast and fitted with a bronze chape.

Dated mid 14thC - UK"

James Elmslie also added a few links on my FB page to very similar guards.

Tod