United Kingdom. A Late 19Th Century Child's Dirk, C.1890

Scotland; Dirk has a traditional ebony handle in hand-carved wood, with a thatched pattern throughout, the dirk designed without a blade, as it was issued to a child. The cap on the pommel is silver, engraved with a wavy zig-zag design on the side and finished with a large cairngorm stone, a type of smoky quartz rock crystal, the cairngorm stone free of chipping and exhibiting very little contact. The accompanying scabbard has a u-shaped bar on the reverse for placement upon a belt, the scabbard permanently secured in place by a silver pin at the opening on the reverse, as there is no blade on the dirk, due to the dirk being issued to a child. It is emblazoned with three silver bands, each with an engraved voided image of a thistle on the front and that carries around to the reverse, each of the bands engraved with a wavy zig-zag design along the top edge and sides. The scabbard itself is wrapped in a lacquered black leather around the wooden frame. The chape is also silver, engraved with an ornate design that also incorporates the wavy zig-zag design throughout, with a ball-finial end, the chape secured in place by one pin on the reverse and is without dents. The middle and lower bands protrude from the body, each topped by a silver platform with an oval hole in the middle. Both of these bands have a protruding ebony handle in hand-carved wood in a thatched pattern, each of which is finished with a cairngorm stone. Traditionally, the upper platform houses a knife, the lower platform houses a fork, but these do not open, as there are no utensils attached, as again, this was issued to a child. The dagger measuring 298 mm in length, exhibiting scattered chipping in the ebony finish on the wooden pieces, along with light flaking in the black leather on the reverse. Near extremely fine.

Footnote: The Scottish Dirk (also "Highland dirk", Scottish Gaelic "Biodag") is the traditional and ceremonial sidearm of the officers of Scottish Highland regiments. The traditional Scottish dirk is a development of the second half of the 17th century, when it became a popular item of military equipment in the Jacobite Risings. The modern development of the Scottish dirk into a ceremonial weapon occurred during the 19th century. The shape of the grip developed from the historical more cylindrical form to a shape intended to represent the thistle. Fancier fittings, often of silver, became popular shortly after 1800. The hilts of modern Scottish dirks are often carved from dark colored wood such as bog oak or ebony. Hilts and scabbards are often lavishly decorated with silver mounts and have pommels set with cairngorm stones. The Cairngorm mountain range in the eastern Scottish Highlands was the sole source of this unique mineral, a smoky quartz crystal which took its name from the mountain range in which it was found. Most cairngorm crystals were a deep, rich yellow-brown color, though there were some which were more brown-grey in color. A small amount of ferric oxide in the quartz is what gave cairngorm stones their distinctive colour, and this particular type of smoky quartz was only found in the Cairngorm mountain range of Scotland. The blades are single edged with decorative file work known as "jimping" on the unsharpened back edge of the blade. When worn, the dirk normally hangs by a leather strap known as a "frog" from a dirk belt, which is a wide leather belt having a large, usually ornate buckle, that is worn around the waist with a kilt. Many Scottish dirks carry a smaller knife and fork which fit into compartments on the front of the sheath, and a smaller knife known as a sgian dubh is also worn tucked into the top of the hose when wearing a kilt.