Recent purchase. Possible Confederate Knife?

[TheRebelPatriot]

Recently got this for a good price. Wasn't advertised as Confederate, Civil War, or anything like that.

Seller told me that it's a 19th century knife that she got at a flea market, and there's no makers marks or anything. And it's blacksmith made.

Is there a slight chance that it could have been a Confederate knife? I know there's no way to tell for sure. I know Confederate's carried blacksmith made knives, fighting knives, and even Green River Works butcher knives.

What's you opinion? Thanks!

 

[johan_steele]

I would say no, looking at it I'm not even certain it's 19th Century. I'd be more inclined to say early 20th butcher knife.

 

[UCVRelics]

I have to agree. Still an interesting piece.

 

[TheRebelPatriot]

How can I tell if a knife is 1800s or 1900s? What should I look for? I collect Confederate relics, and other 1800s relics. But I am new to knives.

 

[7thWisconsin]

Mostly dating a knife like this is examining the tang, grips and pins. Late 19th century - early 20th century knives, the pins are big and uniform, and usually the tang is pretty thick. (My grandfather was a blacksmith and made all the knives in the household, circa 1920. I still have a couple of them. His tangs look like this.) That´s not a fighting knife, but I bet it will take a real nice edge and cut really well.

 

[unicornforge]

There are books on Civil War knives, such as:

Civil War Knives Hardcover – November 1, 1998

by Marc Newman (Author)

 

[bayonet]

This is what knifes look like from the 19th and 18th Century young fella.

 

[Dukecrmc]

How can I tell if a knife is 1800s or 1900s? What should I look for? I collect Confederate relics, and other 1800s relics. But I am new to knives.

Also look up the tariff act of 1890

 

[Rhea Cole]

What you have is a clumsy blacksmith made knife. A blade smith knife would look nothing like this. Blades like the one in the photos are often made to deliberately fool people.