THREE PRIMITIVE KNIVES AND POWDER HORN.

THREE PRIMITIVE KNIVES AND POWDER HORN. This grouping has a couple of different sources but the powder horn and bone handled knife were found in same house in Shenandoah Valley. The consignor believes this house was home to a Hessian soldier during the American Revolution. The horn is about 10″ long with wooden plug held by brass tacks around perimeter where half of brass tops are missing now. Horn has a pleasant patina with a raised carved band and decorations of two fish and a pinwheel. The knife is almost 13-1/2″ long with 9″ double edged blade. Knife has a nice untouched appearance with good patina to octagonally carved bone grip. There is an iron crossguard and an octagonally cut buttcap. This pair of items are typical to the Revolutionary War era through the early 19th century. Also included in this lot is a solid cast 11″ long all steel dagger. Gordon Minnis in his book “American Primitive Knives 1770 – 1870” on page 55 shows an almost identical knife very possibly made by the same maker. This knife exhibits scattered pitting and cleaning, but all in all is a very nice example. As Gordon Minnis says in his book, “There can be no doubt at all that this dagger was indented as a deadly serious weapon by someone who knew what he was doing. A bit heavy, but nicely balanced, doubtless originally razor sharp, with good hand protection and excellent capability for a butt-stroke, it lacks only a cord or thong wrapping on the grip to be an excellent fighting knife. It is in fact astonishing in how many ways this specimen closely resembles the most recent fashion in combat daggers. Any attempt at dating this example is even more an exercise in pure guesswork than most such efforts. It came with an old Michigan collection of iron trade axes, which is interesting but proves nothing at all. Largely on the basis of its modest size and well-forged integral guard, I lean toward a fairly early date, but it could have been made any time…” The last knife in this grouping is about 16″ overall with two piece horn handle which is usually not typically American and could be foreign. This knife has a 2″ brass crossguard and 11″ blade which appears to be made from a file blade. The horn grip has several laminated areas of loss and is missing its buttcap. You are bidding on a nice group of primitive objects, all possibly used in the Revolutionary War. CONDITION: As described above. 4-35133 (3,000-6,000)

Auction: Firearms - Fall 2008

Please Note: All prices include the hammer price plus the buyer’s premium, which is paid by the buyer as part of the purchase price. The prices noted here after the auction are considered unofficial and do not become official until after the 46th day.

Image	Lot	Price	Description
	2473	$1,725.00	THREE PRIMITIVE KNIVES AND POWDER HORN. This grouping has a couple of different sources but the powder horn and bone handled knife were found in same house in Shenandoah Valley. The consignor believes this house was home to a Hessian soldier during the American Revolution. The horn is about 10″ long with wooden plug held by brass tacks around perimeter where half of brass tops are missing now. Horn has a pleasant patina with a raised carved band and decorations of two fish and a pinwheel. The knife is almost 13-1/2″ long with 9″ double edged blade. Knife has a nice untouched appearance with good patina to octagonally carved bone grip. There is an iron crossguard and an octagonally cut buttcap. This pair of items are typical to the Revolutionary War era through the early 19th century. Also included in this lot is a solid cast 11″ long all steel dagger. Gordon Minnis in his book “American Primitive Knives 1770 – 1870” on page 55 shows an almost identical knife very possibly made by the same maker. This knife exhibits scattered pitting and cleaning, but all in all is a very nice example. As Gordon Minnis says in his book, “There can be no doubt at all that this dagger was indented as a deadly serious weapon by someone who knew what he was doing. A bit heavy, but nicely balanced, doubtless originally razor sharp, with good hand protection and excellent capability for a butt-stroke, it lacks only a cord or thong wrapping on the grip to be an excellent fighting knife. It is in fact astonishing in how many ways this specimen closely resembles the most recent fashion in combat daggers. Any attempt at dating this example is even more an exercise in pure guesswork than most such efforts. It came with an old Michigan collection of iron trade axes, which is interesting but proves nothing at all. Largely on the basis of its modest size and well-forged integral guard, I lean toward a fairly early date, but it could have been made any time…” The last knife in this grouping is about 16″ overall with two piece horn handle which is usually not typically American and could be foreign. This knife has a 2″ brass crossguard and 11″ blade which appears to be made from a file blade. The horn grip has several laminated areas of loss and is missing its buttcap. You are bidding on a nice group of primitive objects, all possibly used in the Revolutionary War. CONDITION: As described above. 4-35133 (3,000-6,000) Auction: Firearms - Fall 2008 Please Note: All prices include the hammer price plus the buyer’s premium, which is paid by the buyer as part of the purchase price. The prices noted here after the auction are considered unofficial and do not become official until after the 46th day.

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