1740) A MASSIVE EXCEPTIONALLY ELEGANT AND HIGHLY CHISELED LEFT HAND DAGGER 1600s: Museum quality. For the Arms and Armor collector who only wants the absolute best.
Discussion: The left-hand dagger lost its appeal circa 1675, with the exception of Spain, the Spanish Netherlands, and sections of Italy under Spanish control, which still had a very strong tradition of fencing. The left-hand dagger construction reached its zenith circa 1675. The example under discussion is a “main gauche.” The main gauche was first introduced circa 1650 and quickly peaked. It was used until circa 1780. The “main gauche” was bigger than its predecessor, had a longer blade, with very wide quillons and a very elaborately decorated triangular-shaped guard. The Spanish main gauche was the next evolution of the left hand dagger, it was used in conjunction with the cup hilt rapier. The term main gauche is actually French, and its usage can probably be attributed to Victorian writers.
The main gauche’s……..
-Guard: The standout feature of the main gauche is the triangular-shaped guard that originates at the quillon and arches to the pommel to protect the hand. The guard can be constructed integral, meaning it was made as part of the quillon, other examples (probably of less expensive construction) have the guard attached to the quillon by welding or riveted. On the other end of the triangular guard, the tip is attached to or meets the pommel. At times, the edges of the guard are turned boldly to work as a stop rib like on a breastplate and avoid a sword tip from sliding off the guard into the defender’s hand.
-Blade: The “main gauche” has a long blade. The blade varies in design, but the two most popular designs, from which other variants were inspired, were:
1) A straight double edge that tapers to a point.
2) The other is forged in three distinct sections.
A) The ricasso originating at the hilt is flat, rectangular, and usually beveled at the edges. Some “main gauche” examples have sword catchers built into the ricasso. The sword catcher consists of one, two, or three holes to catch and trap the tip of the opponent’s sword. Other sword catchers include parallel arms running next to the ricasso to serve much in the same fashion as the first-generation left-hand daggers, where blades are trapped with a simple twist of the wrist. The next section of blade is usually triangular shaped with the edge facing the left (outward) where it was most likely to make contact with the opponent’s blade. The opposite edge is decorated with a row of notches. This is the longest section of the blade, which is:
• Double sided.
• Diamond shaped.
• Can have a continuation of the notches previously discussed.
Quillons are very wide and tubular, measuring as long as twelve inches with buttons on the tips. Some quillons are spirally fluted with decorations between the flutes.
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