Gaucho knives and cuchillos criollos of South America

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And a couple of more gauchoan Eberles:

 

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That last pic reminds me these are nice knives, and I have a pair of touristy ones I can use and abuse. (I think the larger one is a new blade in an old handle and sheath. The furniture is worn and the blade etch doesn't comport with the decoration of the mountings, and there's a bit of string around the shank of the belt hook.

 

[Trubetzkoy]

And now to Brazil, if CelloDan permits. It's an Eberle, with a 1946 coin worked into the handle. 1946 was the year of their new constitution.
It looks like fancy leather work, but I suspect the handle was cast or pressed, and maybe that isn't a real coin, either.

Interesting knife, I don't think I've seen one like it before. Thanks for sharing!

Speaking of coins, I still have yours, CelloDan . So sorry for the delay, 2025 has just been nuts!

 

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Interesting knife, I don't think I've seen one like it before. Thanks for sharing!

Speaking of coins, I still have yours, CelloDan . So sorry for the delay, 2025 has just been nuts!

Shipping label created yesterday in Tonawanda NY! Not far from Niagara Falls. [They have a winter weather advisory starting this afternoon, too.]
I was afraid I wouldn't meet the reserve, because the buy-it-now price was a lot higher than the minimum bid. Nobody else was even watching it.

This will still be my biggest one, at something over a 9" blade:

 

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Here it is:

1946 is the year of the new democratic constitution. 1949 is the year they beat Paraguay to win the South American soccer championship.
If the eight dots mean anything, I don't know what.

 

[Trubetzkoy]

Here it is:

1946 is the year of the new democratic constitution. 1949 is the year they beat Paraguay to win the South American soccer championship.
If the eight dots mean anything, I don't know what.

Nice! Now that you have it, what would you say the handle and sheath are made of?

 

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Nice! Now that you have it, what would you say the handle and sheath are made of?

Maybe armadillo and fer de lance (bothrops asper)? There's a hard liner in the sheath. It looks like the section of handle with the coins was assembled and slipped over the tang. The rest looks to me like it was applied in halves.

 

[CelloDan]

Here it is:

Very unique piece Jer !
I would have never guessed along the lines of armadillo and/or bothrops asper ( which I had to google to find out what it is )
Very cool

The coins appear authentic from a rather quick observation of images on the web.
I wonder what the "copper?" "plate" is for .

My Martin Fierro criollo was not at all impressed today when introduced to the "white stuff" lol

 

[screened porch]

Very unique piece Jer !
I would have never guessed along the lines of armadillo and/or bothrops asper ( which I had to google to find out what it is )
Very cool

The coins appear authentic from a rather quick observation of images on the web.
I wonder what the "copper?" "plate" is for .

My Martin Fierro criollo was not at all impressed today when introduced to the "white stuff" lol

I'm impressed by your white stuff (and your Martin Fierro).
I didn't shovel yesterday and won't today. I'll be neglecting less than 1.5 inches in all.
It's cold though, for here. -1 according to one screen, +4 according to the NWS, with a high of 15. High of 20 tomorrow, and no hazardous weather expected for Wednesday through Monday! Of course, that's when they get you.

As for Sunbeam (1946 was an optimistic year), I'm going by the pebbliness of the surface and the color of the scales, and assuming they were something indigenous.
I don't think that copper plate has any structural significance, so just for flash? Or do the eight dots represent the eight somethings of Brasil? Maybe eight major languages or ethnicities? There are a lot more than eight regions in Brasil.
And yes, they're real coins.

Whatever Sunbeam is made of, it doesn't stink, something that didn't occur to me to worry about, but I didn't expect to get it for $29.50, either.

Of course, this would come to mind:
If I ever get trapped in an English country house murder mystery, I hope I'll have one of the slim Eberles up my sleeve:

 

[Trubetzkoy]

Haven't shared anything in a while, so here's a puñal I procured recently:

Made by La Movediza (Tandil, Argentina), second stamp (1944-1948). Differentially polished blade just shy of 9", with a faceted bolster. As usual, the knife was super dirty (clearly it was someone's go-to knife for the asados), but it cleaned up nicely. The nickel silver chape is missing, unfortunately.

 

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Haven't shared anything in a while, so here's a puñal I procured recently:

Made by Movediza (Tandil, Argentina), second stamp (1944-1948). Differentially polished blade just shy of 9", with a faceted bolster. As usual, the knife was super dirty (clearly it was someone's go-to-knife for asados), but it cleaned up nicely. The nickel silver chape is missing, unfortunately.

Gorgeous!
And you saved us from me posting another quasi criollo de campo.

 

[Trubetzkoy]

Gorgeous!
And you saved us from me posting another quasi criollo de campo.

Hahaha we enjoy those too!

 

[Trubetzkoy]

Another recent acquisition, and something quite different from most of the knives shown so far in this thread:

It was advertised as an African knife, but I'm positive it's from northern Brazil — a so-called faca nordestina. The knife itself gives me the impression of a very early object, but the sheath not so much. The knife has two not-so-common features for its type — namely, a spherical ("oriental") bolster and a metal handle (made of nickel silver, I believe). Additionally, the blade has no edge whatsoever, and it looks like it never did. I tried to capture this in the second picture. This, combined with the overall shape of the blade, would make it a faca de ponta.

 

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Another recent acquisition, and something quite different from most of the knives shown so far in this thread:

It was advertised as an African knife, but I'm positive it's from northern Brazil — a so-called faca nordestina. The knife itself gives me the impression of a very early object, but the sheath not so much. The knife has two not-so-common features for its type — namely, a spherical ("oriental") bolster and a metal handle (made of nickel silver, I believe). Additionally, the blade has no edge whatsoever, and it looks like it never did. I tried to capture this in the second picture. This, combined with the overall shape of the blade, would make it a faca de ponta.

The big ricasso reminds me of a Mexican belduque, too, which is north of Brazil.

 

[Trubetzkoy]

Do Chilean corvos count as cuchillos criollos? I'll go ahead and say: "Hell yeah."

This one I acquired recently. It was described as being of unknown origin, but due to its style and construction it's a corvo atacameño (atacameño < Atacama, the name of what is currently a region of Chile), probably from the time of the War of the Pacific (between Chile, Bolivia, and Perú, 1879-1884).

Not only are corvos creole objects by definition (pertaining to "a person of European descent born especially in the West Indies or Spanish America" [Merriam-Webster]), having evolved and become popular during colonial times, but they often share a number of features typical of other types of South American knives (including gaucho knives), such as the integral (often decoratively shaped) bolster, the "Spanish notch," and spine file work. This type of handle, made of horn with brass spacers, is also often seen in rural gaucho knives. An interesting aspect of this example, which sets it apart from most corvos and other South American knives of its size, is its highly stylized iron guard.

 

[kamagong]

That is very cool. Rustic, but also very well made. I wonder who was the original owner of that knife. He was obviously one of us and had the love of knives gene.

 

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Do Chilean corvos count as cuchillos criollos? I'll go ahead and say: "Hell yeah."

This one I acquired recently. It was described as being of unknown origin, but due to its style and construction it's a corvo atacameño (atacameño < Atacama, the name of what is currently a region of Chile), probably from the time of the War of the Pacific (between Chile, Bolivia, and Perú, 1879-1884).

Not only are corvos creole objects by definition (pertaining to "a person of European descent born especially in the West Indies or Spanish America" [Merriam-Webster]), having evolved and become popular during colonial times, but they often share a number of features typical of other types of South American knives (including gaucho knives), such as the integral (often decoratively shaped) bolster, the "Spanish notch," and spine file work. This type of handle, made of horn with brass spacers, is also often seen in rural gaucho knives. An interesting aspect of this example, which sets it apart from most corvos and other South American knives of its size, is its highly stylized iron guard.

Very cool.
Do those brass and copper dots go all the way through, or are they inlaid on one or both sides?
I can never remember where it is that they inlay brass dots in blades so they can kill those who have a charm against iron or steel.

I wonder if those steps in the back of the blade had a function.

Here's Uncle Don's northeastern Brazilian faca de ponta again:

 

[Trubetzkoy]

That is very cool. Rustic, but also very well made. I wonder who was the original owner of that knife. He was obviously one of us and had the love of knives gene.

I think we'll never know, but based on the style and the guard I'd say it's very likely it was carried during the War of the Pacific.

Very cool.
Do those brass and copper dots go all the way through, or are they inlaid on one or both sides?
I can never remember where it is that they inlay brass dots in blades so they can kill those who have a charm against iron or steel.

It would appear that they go all the way through.

 

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Uncle Don always kept it in the sheath, but I get verdigris so I've taken it out of the sheath. I'll clean up the verdigris any day now.

 

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Dangnabbit!