Navaja with questions

[Sajen]

Thank you Carlos,

Very valuable information! Any age guess?

Regards,
Detlef

[Chris Evans]

Detlef

As Carlos said, the current informed consensus is that they were made in France and distributed in Spain by Valero Jun. I am inclined to believe that this was indeed the case.

Cheers
Chris

[Rick]

Is there a particular reason that some of these French navajas do not have a positive lock when open?
Wouldn't inadvertent closing be a problem in a fight?

[Chris Evans]

Originally Posted by Rick

Is there a particular reason that some of these French navajas do not have a positive lock when open?
Wouldn't inadvertent closing be a problem in a fight?

In short, because folding knives with locks were banned and the French imports had to comply with this.

The long answer is somewhat more complex and perhaps you may look up the posts I made years ago on navajas, as this subject was discussed at some length time and again. Have a look at post #9 and #11 of this thread http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...anual+baratero

Cheers
Chris

[Rick]

Thanks for jogging my memory with that thread, Chris.

[Sajen]

Thank you Chris!

So it's a "Spanish" navaja in French style. Or a French navaja worked for the Spanish market.

Age early 20th century? Handle scales from celluloid?

Thank you for sharing your knowledge!

Regards,
Detlef

[Helleri]

Time/place of creation I can't help with. Usage I can help with. You want a book called Manual Of The Baratero: The Art of Handling the Navaja, the Knife, and the Scissors of the Gypsies. It's the oldest and really the only exclusive old treatise on knife fighting, using knives of this type.

[Chris Evans]

Originally Posted by Sajen

Thank you Chris!

So it's a "Spanish" navaja in French style. Or a French navaja worked for the Spanish market.

Age early 20th century? Handle scales from celluloid?

Thank you for sharing your knowledge!

Regards,
Detlef

Hard to say how widely these knives were distributed, but I very much doubt if they were made exclusively for the Spanish market as their general shape and style was not "Spanish" at all. The French did produce knives similar in style to the ones that were made by Spanish cutlers at the time, but these are numerically in the minority.

This knife was made, according to Forton and other sources, late in the 19th century. The handle scales were usually bone.

I'll add that Forton's books are the definitive resource on these knives and no other extant work even remotely approaches their content. Unfortunately they remain untranslated.

Cheers
Chris