What makes a bowie "Southwest" ?

T

Travis Fry

Joined
Jun 11, 2010
Messages
489
"Southwest" is a monniker often applied to bowies but if you do some Googling it appears, based on the photos, that it's applied arbitrarily to refer to no particular set of characteristics. So... let's see your "Southwest" bowies, along with some explanation of what makes it Southwestern.
 
Generally it used to referred to Bowies that were collected in Mexico, Southern California, Arizona, and SW Texas - Originally there were like two SW Bowie classes, those that were based on Espada Acha short swords - https://therionarms.com/articles/index.shtml (see article toward the bottom). The second class were the wide, nose heavy, clip point knives and machetes that were favored 1850's - ,

The Aragon models that were popular there for decades -

https://cdn.hibid.com/img.axd?id=43...MAX&checksum=en72hKmPMlAKeJM7FMeSi71yKELlnBTg .

https://bid.antonycribb.com/images/lot/6106/61068_0.jpg .

Earlier Collins and Co models -

https://www.collectorsfirearms.com/971023/pre-ww1-collins-no-17-bowie-knife-no-10-sheath-mew2627.jpg .

The big Abels Bowie was considered a classic in the style -

https://ia601602.us.archive.org/Boo...org&page=leaf1&fail=preview&&scale=4&rotate=0 .

----------------------------------------------------

After a while, the Espada Ancha took a back seat, and ignored were the standard Sheffield styles that were there too, and it seemed most collectors and custom makers concentrated on the wide and broad clip points..

The main points for the style were -

Big Clip point
Big, but not massive guard. Usually S curved, S curved with index finger ring, or flat.
Natural handle material - Stag, horn, then woods, ivories, etc....
 
tltt said:
Generally it used to referred to Bowies that were collected in Mexico, Southern California, Arizona, and SW Texas - Originally there were like two SW Bowie classes, those that were based on Espada Acha short swords - https://therionarms.com/articles/index.shtml (see article toward the bottom). The second class were the wide, nose heavy, clip point knives and machetes that were favored 1850's - ,

The Aragon models that were popular there for decades -

https://cdn.hibid.com/img.axd?id=43...MAX&checksum=en72hKmPMlAKeJM7FMeSi71yKELlnBTg .

https://bid.antonycribb.com/images/lot/6106/61068_0.jpg .

Earlier Collins and Co models -

https://www.collectorsfirearms.com/971023/pre-ww1-collins-no-17-bowie-knife-no-10-sheath-mew2627.jpg .

The big Abels Bowie was considered a classic in the style -

https://ia601602.us.archive.org/Boo...org&page=leaf1&fail=preview&&scale=4&rotate=0 .

----------------------------------------------------

After a while, the Espada Ancha took a back seat, and ignored were the standard Sheffield styles that were there too, and it seemed most collectors and custom makers concentrated on the wide and broad clip points..

The main points for the style were -

Big Clip point
Big, but not massive guard. Usually S curved, S curved with index finger ring, or flat.
Natural handle material - Stag, horn, then woods, ivories, etc....
Click to expand...
This is exactly the type of reply I was hoping for. Thanks for taking the time.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top