Help on Identifying this Dagger
 

I recently got this at an estate sale. I really liked it but was wondering if I can get help ojn its origin. Several Charistricts of this piece is on the handle of the knife there is a religious figurs with a book in their hand, right above that looks like some kind of big cat attacking a antelope, also on the blade there is on one side 3 stars in a line and on the other the same 3 lined up stars at the base of the blade then at the end of the blood grooves there is 3 stars in a triangle. I am quite interested in any info you might be able to provide

Thanks

Richie Rich

It looks like a shibriya see http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...light=shibriya for similar examples though I cannot tell the age of yours... The dots may be Talismanic warding off evil where 3 dots is significant for that purpose |(reflecting or blocking evil from crawling up or down the blade or hilt...) usually in a triangle format. This is a technique reflected in Arabian blades.

To RichieRich6988
 

Hi, I am sorry to dissapoint you, but your dagger is definitely from middle/late 20th century and made for the tourist trade in Syria, probably around Damascus. It belongs to a large and diverse family of daggers made in Syria and in different shapes: some with curved and some with straight blade, some modelled to popular regional types like imitation Majdali type, Lebanese type with round inserts or bedouin shibriya, and some are just like yours-specific for these daggers only. So how do you recognize them? The best clue is the cast brass sheath, sometimes coated with white metal. This is opposed to chased or engraved brass or white metal sheet over wooden core, which is the traditional type for this region. The poorly made blade with a few stamped stars is also typical, though other types occur, such as cast brass blade. The design is inspired by the Kinjal, like many older Syrian daggers are. The ornaments are inspired by Qajar daggers. Look at the photos for some examples.

Actually, looking at the construction...
 

I think that it's a better-than-average blade. Most of those daggers have an elliptical blade with a very simple profile; This has very well-made fullers, a characteristic that I have not seen except in finer blades. The shape is also very functional and extremely good.

Better photos would help but I believe you are giving a little too much credit to the blade.

The blade appears to be elliptical and the fullers are very easy to produce. Not to mention the punched stars.

Probably the blade is also of very low carbon steel so very soft and easy to machine.