Medieval Iron Knives Whittle Tang Rivet Hole Cleaver Fragment Italy Militaria

A compelling lot of three medieval iron knife blades offered together for the serious collector. Each piece represents a distinct knife form, making this an excellent study or display grouping.

The standout of the group is a long, straight-backed blade with a flat strap tang retaining a small rivet hole at the base — a form highly characteristic of medieval utility and table knives, broadly datable to the 13th–15th centuries. This piece displays a stable dark iron surface and is the best preserved of the three. The second piece is a larger angular blade fragment with a cleaver-like profile, broken at the tang, offering an interesting glimpse into the heavier cutting tools of the medieval period. The third is a small pointed knife blade with a short tang, presented in found condition with a mixed natural surface.

All three are offered as-found and uncleaned, retaining their original excavated character.

Provenance:

These items come from two lifetime collections assembled by United States Army soldiers stationed in Italy following World War II. Post-war Italy was economically devastated, and local families — drawing on their own personal collections — were selling historical items to make ends meet. These soldiers bought extensively during their time there and shipped the items back to the United States. They returned to Italy several years later to buy more, having developed a deep passion for collecting historical artifacts.

The collections passed from the soldiers to their sons, and then on to their grandsons. The items were subsequently purchased directly from one of those grandsons.

These pieces left Italy in the late 1940s to early 1950s, well before the 1970 UNESCO Convention on cultural property — the internationally recognized benchmark for

Condition: Uncleaned, as-found. Varying states of preservation as described.

selling as pictured.

more than welcome to pick up at shop in butler pa & save shipping.

022326 jy