A Fabulous, Frontier To US Civil War Period Massive Confederate Bowie Knife, Often Known Affectionately as An Arkansas Toothpick

Although, the toothpick style is usually narrow and double edged, it can encompass the traditional clip back blade. This Bowie was just as likely made in Texas or other Southern states as well as Arkansas, and overall in very good condition for age, with smooth iron patina to the steel blade, hand worn patina to grip with a small sliver lacking. The iron crossguard has somewhat deeper pitting. A fabulous untouched and original piece of early American Frontier and Civil War history. As was used by Jim Bowie at the Alamo, the Texas rangers and numerous Civil War combatants. An absolute gem of an icon, a truly massive Bowie.

The historical Bowie knife was not a single design but was a series of knives improved several times by Jim Bowie over the years. The earliest such knife, made by Jesse Clift at Bowie's brother Rezin's request resembled Spanish hunting knives of the day, and differed little from a common butcher knife. The blade, as later described by Rezin Bowie, was 9+1⁄2 in (24 cm) long, 1⁄4 in (6.4 mm) thick and 1+1⁄2 in (3.8 cm) wide. It was straight-backed, described by witnesses as "a large butcher knife", and having no clip-point nor any handguard, with a simple riveted wood scale handle.

Bernard Levine has reported that the first known Bowie knife showed a strong Mediterranean influence insofar as general lines were concerned, particularly the shape of the traditional Spanish folding knife, then often carried by immigrants to Mexico and other territories of the Old Southwest. In an 1828 account of the capture of a pirate schooner carrying a mixed group of Spanish and South American pirates, the carrying of knives similar to the early Bowie knife is mentioned:

Amongst these weapons, were a large number of long knives – weapons which the Spaniards use very dexterously. They are about the size of a common English carving knife, but for several inches up the blade cut both sides.

After the Vidalia Sandbar fight, Bowie was a famous man, and the Bowie brothers received many requests for knives of the same design. Bowie and his brothers later commissioned more ornate custom blades from various knife makers including Daniel Searles and John Constable. George William Featherstonhaugh described them as, "These formidable instruments ... are the pride of an Arkansas blood, and got their name of Bowie knives from a conspicuous person of this fiery climate."

According to an 1847 article, the Bowie knife was originally designed to fill the need for a wearable, convenient, close-combat weapon - a short sword much shorter than the sabre or other swords of the day, yet still possessing a heavy blade. This cleaver-like blade had enough weight to give the blade sufficient force in a slashing attack while permitting the use of cut-and-thrust sword fighting tactics. By this time the 'Bowie knife' was already being made in a variety of sizes, with the optimum blade length similar to "that of a carving knife". The blade design was described thus.

When the Civil War began, many soldiers, especially in the Confederacy, had to provide their own arms; and the Bowie knife was a very common part of that armament.

The popularity of the famous weapon can be well understood when we see the diversity of its usefulness. This usefulness is well illustrated by one historian's description in which he said that a Bowie knife was, "...long enough to use as a sword, sharp enough to use as a razor, wide enough to use as a paddle, and heavy enough to use as a hatchet."

While widely used by soldiers on both sides of the war, the Bowie knife was especially popular among Confederate soldiers. As the war progressed, the bayonet slowly took the place of the iconic knife; and by the end of the Civil War, it was no longer widely used...

Weight, 2.6 pounds, length overall 20.5 inches, blade 13 3/4 inches long 3450 gbp

Code: 24734