26th February 2020, 07:41 PM | #10 | ||
Member
Join Date: Feb 2019
Location: Bay Area
Posts: 57
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TVV, Thank you for the images! The bare hilt on page 265 is interesting and bears a close resemblance to a hilt in the Victoria & Albert Museum: http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O450640/dagger-hilt/.
While acknowledging Ariel's comments regarding a potential Al-Sabah agency dilemma, the very similar hilt in the VAM was acquired at some point between 1829 and 1867, and dated to the early 19th century. Likewise, The Met crystal dagger was acquired at sometime prior to 1927, and they date it to the 18th or 19th century. According to my brief internet research, the first Belgian exports of pressed glass to India commenced in 1839 by Val Saint Lambert (https://www.academia.edu/37691529/Be...e_19th_Century). The author discusses other pressed glass products, including lamp covers, exported from Europe to India, but does not specifically mention glass hilts. And Elgood's comment re glass hilts coming from Belgium relies on a citation that lamps in certain Indian temples were imported from Europe. An even briefer search for 19th century Val Saint Lambert glass hilts does not turn up anything useful. But I'm not sure that any of this is dispositive of anything with regards to the hilt of my dagger or the hilts in VAM, The Met, or Al-Sabah. I took a half-hearted swipe at the hilt with a piece of a quartz and it only left a superficial scratch that rubbed off at the touch of my thumb--unlike the permanent gouge the quartz put in the drinking glass at my desk. When I get the chance, I need to take it to a jeweler to test the conductivity. Quote:
For me, the attraction of Indian arms is not in their raw marshal utility, but in their beauty. But if marshal utility is your thing, the nicks in the blade of my pesh kabz indicate that a child likely fought some imaginary battles with this dagger! Quote:
Mahratt, Thank you for the photo. That must be pre-Oct 2015? Jens, Both of those daggers are beautiful. Your hilt looks like a nice lattice of SiO2, but do you know or have an opinion on whether it's quartz or glass? |
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