Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
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| Wood Handle of Bill's Dagger |
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| Hollow Grommet |
Yesterday I showed a dagger found by Bill M. When I looked at the photo of the guard, it looked to me like there were some stamped numbers or letters on the guard. I wanted to see if we could make those out before I posted more of the photos.
The dagger was taken apart for cleaning and restoration.
To the left is the wood handle, and to the right, the hollow grommet for storing additional blades or other tools.
I tried some photo processing software to see if I could make whatever might be stamped on the guard a little more clear. Sometimes you can manipulate images to show more detail than you would otherwise see.
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| Guard and Remaining Portion of Blade |
Using another very similar photo, but with a different orientation, I increased the contrast and sharpened the image a bit. You can see the result in the enhanced photo shown below.
In the image below, left and above center I think you can see what appears to be a clear 2. I am not sure, though, if the 2 is stamped or a superficial marking. I think most likely, superficial.
If you blow up that image, it appears that the lighting is coming from about the 4:30 position, and you can see some of the edges of stamped depressions as reflecting the light and appearing very bright.
Although I had minimal success in this case, you can sometimes use image processing software to bring out additional details. Sometimes you can see something you would otherwise miss by converting the image to greyscale or negative. There are a lot of things you can try, depending upon the software you have. I just downloaded some free software from the net.
The angle of any lighting is important when trying to photograph objects to expose the most possible detail. I think if this object was rotated 90 degrees three times and photos taken after each rotation, the stampings could reveal a lot more information.
Anyhow, that is the best I could do up to this point.
If any of you can give us a time period or any other thoughts or information on this dagger, it would be very much appreciated.
About four depressions to the right of the 2 on the guard, could that possibly be a Broad Arrow?
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| Manipulated Image |
I found a product called Metal Rescue that looks like it might be great for removing rust from antiques. I haven't tried it yet myself, so I am judging by the video. If it works as good as the video shows, it could be a BIG help.
If you haven't noticed, I posted a new poll and would appreciate your responses. Thanks!
Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net
