Thoughts on antique Bowie knife

I don't think you offended anyone no worries and welcome aboard. You might wander over to that sub forum I mentioned earlier and do a search on bowie knives particularly posts written by Bernard Levine. It might be helpful not only for getting a better idea of what a bowie is and is not, but also might be enlightening with respect to bowie books although I don't think the one you reference was mentioned.
 
I bought an almost identical knife from Atlanta Cutlery around 20 years ago. I believe it was billed as a "Mexican Bowie," though they have given that name to more than one knife they've offered. It's an inexpensive India-made knife, I believe made by Windlass Cutlery. Yours is either a knife they patterned their knife after or it is a rusty version of their knife.
 
Triton said:
I don't think you offended anyone no worries and welcome aboard. You might wander over to that sub forum I mentioned earlier and do a search on bowie knives particularly posts written by Bernard Levine. It might be helpful not only for getting a better idea of what a bowie is and is not, but also might be enlightening with respect to bowie books although I don't think the one you reference was mentioned.
Click to expand...
Thank you, I will do that. I appreciate the help.
 
riversidedep said:
I bought an almost identical knife from Atlanta Cutlery around 20 years ago. I believe it was billed as a "Mexican Bowie," though they have given that name to more than one knife they've offered. It's an inexpensive India-made knife, I believe made by Windlass Cutlery. Yours is either a knife they patterned their knife after or it is a rusty version of their knife.
Click to expand...
That makes since. The knotch in the blade is called a spanish knotch.
 
aspaulding said:
I did not mean to offend. Again I am not new to forums on blades. I only did that so it didn't get lost on page two. But I do wonder your thoughts on the Antique bowie knife book by Bill Adams. He has a whole section on unmarked blades. Most of his examples are of a flat blades similar to mine. If somebody could educate me on what is the diffrence. I really just want to use this as an educational experience.
https://imgur.com/a/DaXMwlP
Click to expand...

This is artificially aged. Real old carbon steel blades doesn't age this way. If you want to learn more we have a lot of information about fakes on our website. https://antiquebowieknifeassociation.com ... but you need to join to access it. It's a good idea if you want to collect Antique Bowies...or you will be eaten alive by the sharks!
 
I agree with Skilledhunter that the blade looks artificially aged. In this regard, what you usually want to see is a more subtle and spotty pattern of corrosion, like that of the knife from Bill Adams's book. Moreover, as others have pointed out, the overall style seems off. For instance, the "Spanish notch" looks like it was simpy cut-off with a Dremel, whereas historical examples typically have rounder or otherwise more intricate notches. I don't consider myself an expert, though ;).

You can find several posts with pictures of historical bowies in this forum which illustrate these characteristics. For instance, you can look at this recent post about a Chevalier at Sutter's Fort, or the thread I created a while ago about Non-American bowie-type knives, or some of Skilledhunter's older posts. And, of course, you can also find interesting posts showing older knives other than bowies, such as this post showing two early-to-mid 20th-century German daggers.

Cheers.
 
Welcome, nothing wrong with asking and getting some information and learning about real and faked knives, thst is how e learn. A lot of good resources here, and I was also thinking of the Levine section to discuss those aspects. I also think it looks like A fantasy piece.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top