Identifying An antique dagger

Hello ive been diving and i found this antique dagger any one can anyone identify it thanks

 

Welcome, oussamio. Could you please tell us the general location where you found it, the country, at least, & the dimensions. Is this how it looked when you found it or have you cleaned it?

I am no weapons expert (they'll be along in time) but I would not call a blade of this shape a dagger. This is for slashing rather than stabbing.

 

I think the shape is called a falchion.

 

It looks like a decorative scimitar to me.
The photos have quite a lot of glare, can you photograph it without glare (no flash)?
Maybe the decorations on the blade are a clue to the origin, but you have to bear in mind that this is not meant as a real weapon. The globular shapes on the bell(?) are reminiscent of the Medici crest, although not the right number.

 

thanks for your replies i found it in my vacation in tunisia (Maghreb region of North Africa ) and i found it the way it is i didnt want to clean it to avoid damages , its about 60 cm length yes there is some flag with thedecoration and some initial on the handler F C i will take other pictures

 

Wonderful, looking forward.
Tunisia has many cultural influences, and a scimitar type sword certainly fits in, as do more European looking decorations (important Italian and Maltese populations).

 

I hope it's not a murder weapon , tossed in the drink....

it's hard to say that it's been in the water long...

 

I dont think a murder weapon because i found it far from the sea shore plus i found using underwater metal detector

 

Now that it's out of the water and exposed to the air, you probably shouldn't wait too long to do something to protect it from rusting. Cool find.

 

A very cool thing to find! A person can only speculate how it got there in the first place (might be a very interesting story)

 

The very specific decoration looks like it is based on an actual crest.
Maybe someone can find the crest with four roundels separated by a cross? It has a crown, so it could be an aristocratic family crest.

The scimitar shaped sword suggests an Arabic or Turkish influence, but the crest could be European.
Given that Malta is just a hop across the water, and Malta had many 'Auberges' from other parts of Europe, the origin of the crest could be anywhere. The fleur-de-lys or giglios on either side are heraldic symbols found throughout Europe. Which about narrows it down.

 

I agree that the shape is 100% arabic turkish and the decoration especially that flag symbol should belong to an european country /familly in that era especialy that tunisia is the gate of africa thraught the mediterranean a lot of ships trafics... thank you all for your time thats not the first find i ve got unused bullet of ww1 historical coins... Diving with metal detector is a cool thing to try so i will keep investigating about that scimitar and ill keep you informed

 

I am sorry to say, but this is a tourist piece, almost certainly.
A real mixture of styles, and seemingly, has not been in the water for very long. The hilt, cast in a single piece, with a Middle Eastern sort of blade, but with fleur-de-lys on it?
I am afraid it is a scimitar fantasy piece, and not very old.
Sorry to put a downer on it. Interesting thing to find though, and how did it get there? Possibly dropped overboard by a tourist on a cruise boat or similar?

 

Possibly dropped overboard by a tourist on a cruise boat

ah, so....Murder on the Maghreb !!!!

 

Don't worry, it was already established that it is purely decorative.
Having said that, a combination of North African (Arab) and European style is not uncommon in Tunisia. Ever since ancient times there has been a lot of trade and cultural exchange across the Mediterranean. For centuries there have been important Italian and Maltese communities in Tunisia.
And Tunisia was a French colony from the late 19th-mid 20th century.

As an aside, famous actress Claudia Cardinale was Tunisian born Italian. When she was scouted she only spoke Arabic and Sicilian, like most Italian Tunisians. She had to learn to speak Italian before she could act in Italian films.

 

I agree. Owned ceveral in the past. Those were favo in the 60's and 70's.
For sure this is cast iron, and real ones never are cast iron.
A quillion in one part with the grip??

I wouldn't hew in a piece of wood as most likely the short blade piece in the cast iron handle will break apart.

Here's one from the same era which i've owned. Probably you'll immidiatly see the
similarities.

 

Oeps. Here the image also went wrong.
So here the image...