17th Century Italian left handed (gauche)

17th Century Italian left handed (gauche) parrying dagger, used as a fighting accessory to a rapier sword. Decorative bronze quillon, with oval ring guard. Dark smooth patina on blade, quillon, and pommel. Grip in very good condition. Overall very good condition.

Size: 34 cm

Size blade : 22 cm

Parrying daggers were an important development of the ubiquitous quillion dagger form, appearing in the early to mid-16th century starting with the so-called left hand dagger. Although this is often used as a term of convenience for parrying daggers in general, it also refers more specifically to the earlier and simpler form of the weapon. It had stout quillons (straight or curved) for effective parrying as well as an additional guard in the form of a ring or shell on one side of the quillons where they crossed the grip. In addition to straight blades, there are examples of left hand daggers with wavy blades, those with saw edges and blades that are perforated along the central fuller with small holes, all designed to make the weapon lighter or to aid in defense. This form of dagger largely disappeared in the early 17th century in favor of the much more important main-gauche which was especially popular in Spain and Italy.