December 14-17, 2021 Collectible Firearms & Militaria
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 12/14/2021
This impressive side knife has a maple grip, without ferrule, with blade tang peened over a brass washer on the pommel. The grip is oval in cross-section with nice finish and just light handling marks. The flat iron guard is an elongated diamond with flat, round terminals. The blade has an inverted-V ricasso with a modified saber grind producing 3 planes: a central narrow flat plane rather than median ridge; a narrow upper plane tapering to the flat back edge; and a broad lower plane tapering to the cutting edge. The central plane tapers out near the spearpoint tip as the upper and lower planes join at the slightly upturned tip. Blade is smooth metal, muted silver with scattered gray spotting, a small bit of freckling on either side about 6" from the tip, but very good edge and point. Both sides show areas of crosshatching about 4" from the tip, from use of a file or rasp in making the blade. This comes with a brown leather sheath embossed with border lines on both sides and elongated nested flowers on one. A collector note indicates a Milledgeville, Ga., origin, but the knife does not conform to standard Georgia Arsenal types. The ricasso shape does shows up on Kenansville cutlasses, Virginia ranger knives, and others, though with median ridge marking off two even planes. CONDITION: Very good to excellent. No chips in the grip. Good edge and point. Smooth metal. Scabbard with tight seam and good finish. Minor wear spots on the edges. See Confederate Bowie Knives for commentary on southern blacksmith use of files for knife production during the war.
Item Dimensions: 16"