with stout blade formed with a swaged spear point, stamped with the maker’s name on one face and ‘Salem’ at the ricasso, iron hilt comprising guard with rounded quillons and cap pommel, and natural staghorn grip, in its leather-covered wooden scabbard with spring retaining clip, 22.5 cm blade

Literature

David Hayden-Wright, The Heritage of English Knives, Atglen, Pennsylvania, 2008, p. 311.

Arnachellum of Salem, Tamil Nadu, was a famous 19th century maker of knives, hunting spears, daggers and cutlery as recorded by Alexander Hunter who wrote in 1875 '.....For the last thirty years Arnachellum, of Salem, has perhaps acquired the greatest and the most deserved reputation for the fine quality, as well as the finish, of his knives, hunting-spears, daggers, and table-cutlery. One point in which these have surpassed almost all similar steel-manufactures in Europe, has been their tough hardness, without being brittle.....' Two other daggers by him are preserved in the Royal Collection (RCIN 38126 and 38127) and another in the Royal Armouries, Leeds, (object no. X388). Egerton stated in 1896 that they had been 'known for the last fifty years over India.'

Part proceeds to benefit the Acquisition Fund of the Arms and Armor department, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.