Curt Erickson "Roman Dagger" - David Darom Book

[betzner]

David Darom, as I understand it, will be publishing a book, sometime toward the end of this year, which will include this brand new image of Curt's "Roman Dagger". The handle is of wonderfully aged African elephant ivory with deep fluting. The dagger is 11 1/2" overall with 6" blade of 0-1 tool steel, gun metal hot bluing and engraving, of course, by master Julie Warenski.


*******Images deleted. The knife community will, in the long run, be better served by distribution of such materials via general publication (specifically, David Darom's books), rather by viewing in threads such as this. I, for one, will be quick on the draw once his new book becomes available for purchase!*******

The dagger was created and engraved in the late 1980's and remained, thereafter, in a European collection. It came to light in an auction last year, but over the years a few condition issues, caused by storage and lack of maintenance, had become apparent. Luckily none were permanent and the dagger has been brought back to mint condition.

This image, by Eric Eggly and Dr David Darom, finally captures the beauty of this wonderful creation. Hope you like it.

Bob Betzner

 

[Lorien]

I love this pugio dagger format. The wide blade is appealing aesthetically, and as a weapon, devastating, (I know this from my past career as a gladiator, lol)
Glorious, glorious knife there.

 

[Patrice Lemée]

I love it all! The deep fluting is amazing and the engraving is just stunning, incredible, out of this world...
Did I say I loved it.

 

[Marcel54]

Bob as I told you earlier this dagger is one of my top ten knives of all time. I love everything about it.

Marcel

 

[peterinct]

Curt sure did a FANTASTIC job refurbishing it! NOW it looks like it should.

CONGRATS Bob! You must be thrilled to have it in your collection.

Peter

 

[tedinatl]

WOW, what a knife! Man, that really blew me away. Some of the best craftsmanship I've seen!

 

[RogerP]

Beautiful - love the broad, stout blade.

Roger

 

[J.Manuel]

Beautiful dagger Bob - see you in the Pit Saturday nite at Blade !!!

 

[jklein7401]

I remember this one well and was very excited to see you pick it up at the auction. It has the home it belongs in and is a gem amongst the body of work Curt has presented over the years. What a unique and special piece.

Thanks for sharing.

Jon

 

[Doug C]

What an amazingly beautiful knife this is, Bob.
Congrats on this masterpiece and thanks for showing !

Doug

 

[Joss]

Love the blade shape.

 

[ddd]

Hello Bob and everyone else,

I am glad you liked the setup I created for this magnificent knife.

This knife and many many others will be displayed in the book
that I am preparing on Julie in my series of "Custom Knifemakers of the World".
I shall also document Julie in detail while making a dagger and then
the whole process of engraving the finished knife and its sheath.

This will be the 4th volume in this series:
"The Knifemaking and Knife Engraving of Julie Warenski-Erickson"

Maybe a word is needed explain the long and narrow setup I chose
for displaying this piece. Or even better, here are the two facing pages
from the book where it is displayed. They speak for themselves...

The book will go to press in December 2012 and be introduced early in 2013.

All the best,
David Darom (ddd)

 

[betzner]

Hello Bob and everyone else,

I am glad you liked the setup I created for this magnificent knife.

This knife and many many others will be displayed in the book
that I am preparing on Julie in my series of "Custom Knifemakers of the World".
I shall also document Julie in detail while making a dagger and then
the whole process of engraving the finished knife and its sheath.

This will be the 4th volume in this series:
"The Knifemaking and Knife Engraving of Julie Warenski-Erickson"

Maybe a word is needed explain the long and narrow setup I chose
for displaying this piece. Or even better, here are the two facing pages
from the book where it is displayed. They speak for themselves...

The book will go to press in December 2012 and be introduced early in 2013.

All the best,
David Darom (ddd)

Wow, that's really going to be some book, David. Thanks for the peek!

Bob

 

[rbslaughter1]

It's a true art knife to me Bob, in every sense.. You must be so stoked to have this one added to your collection. I could go on and on about what I admire about it, but I'll just agree with some of the other posters about it being one of the most beautiful daggers to have been shown on the forum over all the years..
Wonderful.... Best, Rich

 

[SharpByCoop]

That's a dramatic image of a dramatic knife created by Curt and Julie. Deservedly accomplished by David and Eric.

The book IS going to be spectacular: Queen Julie and her many subjects will rule the court.

I look forward to the final edition. David has drawn on me also for a handful of images.

Bob, what a beauty. Congrats to you for such prominence.

Coop

 

[ddd]

......... David has drawn on me also for a handful of images......
Coop

Thanks, Jim, if it were not for photographers like yourself, Eric and Francesco,
there would be no worthy documentation of this amazing art form and
I could have never been able to create my books on modern custom knives!!!

THANKS!

All the best,
David Darom (ddd)

 

[ddd]

Here is one more amazing piece from Bob's collection that
will be displayed on a full page in Julie's book...

This is my composite full page illustration created from Eric Eggly's
newly photographed raw files.
Here is the description that goes with this knife made by Buster Warenski:

Buster Warenski
“Main Gauche”, AKI™ 1993
This dagger was made by Buster and Julie for the 1993 Art Knife Invitational™ Show.
It has a 440C stainless steel blade and a black marble spiral-carved handle with twisted
silver wire inlay. It is adorned with over 700 pave set diamonds and more than 40 rubies.
The fittings are Sterling silver. It has very ornate engraving, filigree and carving
throughout the blade, guard, pommel and basket guard, all done by Julie.
The main-gauche (French for “left hand”), is a type of parrying dagger, a small
hand-held weapon from the European late Middle Ages and early Renaissance.
These weapons were used as off-hand weapons in conjunction with a single-handed
sword, a rapier or a similar longer weapon that was held in the dominant hand.
As the name implies they were designed to parry, or defend, more effectively than
a simple dagger form, typically incorporating a wider guard, and often some other
defensive features to better protect the left hand.
Blade length 12” (305 mm), overall length 18” (487 mm).

All the best,
David Darom (ddd)

 

[Marcel54]

The more I see this dagger the more in awe I am. The work involved is mind boggling. There is a nice visual light effect on the inside of the handle (top left). It looks like a skeleton (at least to me). Great composition.

Marcel