Late 18th C. Spanish Colonial Steel, Brass & Bone Knife

New World, North America, Spanish Colonial period, ca. late 18th to early 19th century CE. A lovely personal gaucho knife called a belduque (sometimes gaucho belduque), a type of multi-purposed blade that was the predecessor to the modern bowie knife. The forged-steel blade has an elongated triangular profile with a sharpened edge along the bottom, an intricately incised spine that narrows into a second edge at roughly the halfway point, and a thick tang bearing a pair of attached cow or deer bone handle panels. The shoulder, body, and tip of the blade are inlaid with smoothed brass nodules, and a perforation near the edge base perhaps held additional dangling ornamentation. A fine example covered in lustrous patina. Size: 1" W x 14.2" H (2.5 cm x 36.1 cm); (blade): 10.4" L (26.4 cm).

Provenance: private Glorieta, New Mexico, USA collection

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#152224 Dimensions: Condition Report: Minor nicks and abrasions to handle panels and blade, with very slight bending to overall form of blade, and light pitting to blade, otherwise intact and very good. Nice patina to blade and handle panels.