A 19th Century Sgian Dubh

[Ryan Ross]

A quick and dirty image enhancement yields the following:



I think the "seam" you are seeing is the end of the carved face.
The studs to appear to be small cabochons of garnet or similar.

My knowledge of Scottish art & craft is certainly no rival for others here, but I'd say it was Victorian based on the silver work.

ith:

Thanks for that, Scott. I'm not accustomed to actually handling items like this, so most of what I see are pictures that don't show the back of the item. I suppose I never thought about the idea that the carving might stop so abruptly.

It looks like a very nice piece, for sure...the plastic hypothesis was, certainly, mostly in jest.

It still seems like the price asked is ridiculous, though, especially if it comes with no historical details (which I'm guessing it does not, as it's almost certainly been misdated).

Eh, who knows...