The Original Bowie Knife-Where Is It???

Truedge
Took me a bit to find out a few things.
According to Batson, An Arkansas toothpick is a early Bowie knife.
"Tah Chee's famous coffin handle bowie was made by Crown Alpha and sold by Gravely and Wreaks out of Manhatten has "Arkansas Toothpick" etched on the blade. This knife, I believe is meant to be a replication or recreation of the James Black made Carrigan/Garland knife. It is pictured on page 54 of the Antique Bowie Book and page 29 of Butterfield and Butterfield Berryman auction book.
The English used the Blade and sheath as bill boards for advertisment and to appeal to one's vanity. Another early Arkansas Toothpick made by Jemes Rogers is on page 346 of Antique Bowie Book. Several large Bowies had Arkansas toothpick on the sheath. One of these, a large Broomhead and Thomas with crown handle, is pictured on page 362. The Wittie museum had a Broomhead and Thomas that James Bowie was supposed to have owned. These are all Sheffield made."

Hope that sheds some light on the Arkansas Toothpick. Along with the myth of what an Arkansas Toothpick is according to Thorp the sandbar fight also took place on the Vidalia Sandbar which is incorrect.
Batson has done more research on the sandbar fight than anyone I know.
There are 3 people who has researched the Arkansas Toothpick extensively. Batson, BR Hughes and Bill Worthen, director of the ATR museum in Little Rock that has on display several old bowies including the Carrigan and Bowie #1.
To my knowledge there is no way to properly identify the maker of the sheath that remains at the Alamo. It is a run of the mill sheath of paste board with silver throat and tip.
jf
 
fisk

Man you do know some cool stuff and some pretty cool kinfe type people. You ever think about maybe getting into this knife thing full time
smile.gif
.

(after the laughter subsides, truedge continues)

I think that a great deal of attention is due to not2sharp's point about "one" bowie. Bowie obviously had more than one knife and the orientation toward trying to find one knife to call a "bowie" is more the result of knife marketing than serious historical pursuit.

Part of my own delimma is the number of knives out there with good provenance from the period that do not possess a guard. I just can't imagine anyone designing or seeking a knife of that consequence for the purposes of defense or offense and not wanting a substantial guard.

Can anyone shed some light on this?


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A Patriot's Work Is Never Done--greetings from The Occupied South
 
Both the 'Carrigan' knife and the so-called 'Bowie No. 1' are perfectly nice 1830s-40s Cincinatti Ohio style bowies; their only connection to Arkansas or Black is in the imagination of the author of that article (the curator of an Arkansas museum).

Anyone who wants to go to bat for Raymond Thorp should read his 1925 article on the bowie knife -- written before he got sidetracked into the land of fantasy.
In that article he sets forth the four different versions of the bowie knife story that he had located, INCLUDING the most accurate, Lucy Leigh Bowie's account. However, he discounted her version as a family coverup, and instead went with Governor Jones's tale, despite the 6 year discrepancy in the dates. Later, Thorp rationalized this discrepancy by asserting that the knife used by Bowie at the Sandbar fight in 1827 was not 'really' a bowie knife (after all, what would a mere Bowie know about such matters), and that the REAL bowie knife was made by Black in Arkansas 6 years later.

If that argument makes sense to you, then IMHO your marble count may be low
rolleyes.gif
and should be checked by a professional.

BRL...

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http://pweb.netcom.com/~brlevine/links.htm
 
Bernie
I never said my marble count was normal. I do try to keep an open mind though. More learned people than I have argued with you for years on this subject.

For Anyone else interested in this subject. There are Arkansas Gazzette Newspaper articles and other written matter that does back up Black having made a knife for Bowie. If anyone would like for me to look such up and get sites for just let me know and I will do my best to provide such.
 
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