African Or Tlingit Copper Dagger

fearn · 25th August 2005, 03:40 AM

Hi Tomahawk,

I do hope it's the genuine article. The lack of a patina is bothering me, and it makes me wonder if some "genius" (read this sarcastically) decided to clean the blade with acid. Either that or it's fairly new.

In either case, I hope you have good luck getting the provenance documents. In this case, I would suggest some skepticism with this piece and the documentation that comes with it. If it really is 150 years old, that age doesn't particularly show. This could be a result of good storage (if so, where's the grip?) or someone's overly thorough cleaning (perhaps the handle and blade got wet, rotted and corroded, and were cleaned off). Or it's a more recent piece and someone is lying about its history. More detective work is needed.

Fearn

25th August 2005, 03:40 AM	#5
fearn Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 1,247	Hi Tomahawk, I do hope it's the genuine article. The lack of a patina is bothering me, and it makes me wonder if some "genius" (read this sarcastically) decided to clean the blade with acid. Either that or it's fairly new. In either case, I hope you have good luck getting the provenance documents. In this case, I would suggest some skepticism with this piece and the documentation that comes with it. If it really is 150 years old, that age doesn't particularly show. This could be a result of good storage (if so, where's the grip?) or someone's overly thorough cleaning (perhaps the handle and blade got wet, rotted and corroded, and were cleaned off). Or it's a more recent piece and someone is lying about its history. More detective work is needed. Fearn