a sail guard left hand dagger

[fernando]

Shame on me, ulfberth; i let this one go without even admiring such excelent example .
Take my guess as it being Spanish; above all, because of that motif on the sail guard that seems to be intended to depict the famous shell (scallop) symbol of Santiago (Saint James).
I am only surprised that such unique quality dagger has no maker's mark (symbol) on the ricasso.

.

[ulfberth]

Originally Posted by fernando

Shame on me, ulfberth; i let this one go without even admiring such excelent example .
Take my guess as it being Spanish; above all, because of that motif on the sail guard that seems to be intended to depict the famous shell (scallop) symbol of Santiago (Saint James).
I am only surprised that such unique quality dagger has no maker's mark (symbol) on the ricasso.

.

Thank Fernando,

Indeed it has no stamps on the ricasso, but it has a stamp of a sea horse about 15mm bellow the fuller.

kind regards

Ulfberth

[fernando]

Originally Posted by ulfberth

Thank Fernando,

Indeed it has no stamps on the ricasso, but it has a stamp of a sea horse about 15mm bellow the fuller.

kind regards

Ulfberth

Can we have a close up picture ?

[ulfberth]

Thanks Jim

Here is one Fernando, but if you want a more clear pic you will have to ask Casey now

kind regards

u

[M ELEY]

I also don't remember seeing this beauty! Glad Fernando posted on it, bringing it back to life! A superb example. I've seen swords with the so-called 'crab-claw' construction for catching an opponent's blade, but never on a parrying dagger before. Makes sense. So...is it a main gauche?

[fernando]

Originally Posted by M ELEY

... So...is it a main gauche?

For the French, yes. Daga de mano izquierda for the Spanish, agada de mão esquerda for the Portuguese.
As this one has its guard in the form of a sail, the Spaniards would call it daga de vela de mano izquierda .

[CSinTX]

Thanks to everyone for their thoughts on this piece. It really is great. I took some additional pictures this afternoon. Feel free to discuss. As you can see from the guard, it appears the blade was likely replaced during it's working life.