i am hoping someone can help. i have attached a photo of a blade that my father had that was handed down from his grandfather. i have searched as best i can online and have not been able to find anything even close to it. i am afraid i know nothing about where it came from

the piece is 13 inches long. the blade is (iron, i think) 9 inches long and 3.5 inches wide. the handle is wood.

is there anything anyone can tell me?

thank you in advance for any help you might be able to give.

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I've seen one or two Civil War era knives that had a similar look, as well as a WWI trench knife or two. I'd bet that it's American, from the roughly Bowie-styled blade. Just a guess.

Found these. Hope it's what you're looking for. Although now that I see some originals, the guard on yours looks a little bit too factory made for the Civil War. Perhaps WWI. And that might explain the width, since that monster of a blade could pratically double as a shovel. ;-)

http://www.civilwarpreservation.com/cgi-bin/article.asp?13
http://arms2armor.com/Knives/dguard1.htm

Okay that's an interesting piece. I'm with Sam, I'm guessing it's probably some sort of one off piece from World War 1. This is also based on your given provenance, it could just as easily be from World War II except that would seem to indicate that it was merely from your grandfather rather then your great grandfather which you say isn't the case. The variation of such things is endless many being made by troops in their spare time. I've seen all sorts of bizarre trench knives. I'm not sure about country of origin either, just as a side note there were a great many bowie knives made in Sheffield, England and shipped to the United States for sale.

Does it have a sheath? that might shed some more light.
I'm going the majority and say W W I

I would actually guess American Civil War rather than WWI. Just a hunch, really, but I've seen numerous pictures of very similar knives dating from that time. The curve of the knucklebow seems a little irregular to me, which might suggest it was either hand-forged, or bent from a strip of iron salvaged/cannibalized from something else - in any case, I wouldn't be at all surprised if it began its life as something completely different from a knuckleguard.

I could well be wrong, of course.

PS. What does it say on the handle - "C. S. Va"? Would that be someone's initials, plus the shorthand for Virginia?

Could be a "modern" piece, either a homemade reproduction for personal use or an outright forgery. Given the provenance, the latter seems unlikely.

I appears to me to be a rustic version of a D-guard bowie. Nothing really notworthy other than sentimental value due to its family association, and that's really the important thing anyway.

Authentic, homemade confederate fighting knives seem to be in the $600-1000 range--certainly not enough to part with an heirloom.

[quote="Mikko Kuusirati"]I would actually guess American Civil War rather than WWI. Just a hunch, really, but I've seen numerous pictures of very similar knives dating from that time. The curve of the knucklebow seems a little irregular to me, which might suggest it was either hand-forged, or bent from a strip of iron salvaged/cannibalized from something else - in any case, I wouldn't be at all surprised if it began its life as something completely different from a knuckleguard.

I could well be wrong, of course.

PS. What does it say on the handle - "C. S. Va"? Would that be someone's initials, plus the shorthand for Virginia?[/quote]

mikko...thanks for your reply.

as for the letters on the hilt it is a 'C' and and 'S' ....it is the last letter/symbol that is interesting. it is not a "V" and an 'A'....there is a rivet there that makes it look like that. it is an unusual symbol...it looks like an 'S' that has fallen forward, or an N written the wrong way. any thoughts anyone??

thanks for everyone's help.

No idea really, but as a guess if it's Civil War period - CS - Confederate States ...something ? Though I suppose you'd expect an official stamp rather than hand whittling and more info for something like that I guess. Confederate States Ship 'CSS' but he couldn't fit the S the right way up round the rivet ? Confederate States Navy by a slightly illiterate person who got the N the wrong way round ? Confederate States Virginia ?

The C almost looked as if someone had tried to carve an 'O' round the rivet so I thought Oregon Steam Navigation company or something but can't see clearly on the photo.

It's a pretty substantial beast at any rate.