Here's a knife that I procured recently, made by Deakin, Ecroyd & Co. (1868-1874), and pictures of which I had already shown in posts
#232 and
#401:
I followed this knife for quite some time before purchasing it, since the price was a bit too high for my taste, but recently I decided to make an offer to the dealer, and they accepted. One of the reasons I had been eying this knife for so long -- other than its "objective" beauty -- is that it appeals to both my interest in
guacho knives and my interest in bowies, as it was made in Sheffield during the Victorian period (by a maker known to have exported knives to South America) and has elements commonly seen in bowies, such as the file work on the spine (traditionally referred to as
jimp and bevel) and the ornate hollow nickel silver handle (in this case, showing traces of silverplate). Since the topic of the thickness of
gaucho knives was recently discussed in this thread, it may be worth mentioning that the blade of this is knife is in line with those of other antique and vintage examples, tapering from about half a centimeter to less than a millimeter. I suspect this heavy taper is what prompted the maker to grind the false edge and jimp and bevel only on one side of the blade, as shown in the picture below:
As for the sheath, it's most likely a custom-made replacement, since the style and construction is not that commonly seen in Victorian Sheffield knives, and the belt loop is on the left-handed side. Still, based on the condition (relative to the knife), style, and materials, I'd say it's an early replacement. Who knows, perhaps the knife (which seems to have never left the UK, as that's where it was when I bought it) was carried in WW1 and/or WW2 and the sheath was made for that purpose.
I close with a picture of the knife next to another hollow-handled Sheffield piece from the same period, made by Wragg & Sons (which I've shown before in the
Non-American bowie-type knives thread), to highlight the bowie connection:
Edit: Maker's name and date have been corrected.
I left him a message on his profile.
)
never tasted so good 
