Wednesday, September 30, 2020

Monday, September 28, 2020

Knife and Sheath by John Miller

 

I forged the blade from 1084, the handle is walnut with brass wraps, an iron guard and ferrule, and silver escutcheons.  The sheath is pine and sheet steel with a leather belt loop.  I put two opposing Osage orange springs in the sheath to firmly grab the blade.  Engraving on the pommel wrap mimics the holly inlays sometimes found on Federal era furniture.  The painting on the sheath is also inspired by Federal era painted furniture.  









Copy and photos supplied by John Miller.

Thursday, September 24, 2020

Pair of Flintlock Pistols of Empress Catherine the Great (1729–1796

These pistols are part of a deluxe garniture of ivory-stocked hunting arms made for Empress Catherine the Great (reigned 1762–96), whose intial (E for Ekaterine) is on the escutcheons of the grips. The garniture, which originally consisted of these pistols, a fowling piece dated 1786 (National Museum, Warsaw), and a rifle (whereabouts unknown), was later given to her favorite, Prince Stanislas August Poniatowski (1732–1798), whom she backed as king of Poland (reigned 1763–95). Firearms with ivory stocks, generally out of fashion in western Europe by the eighteenth century, were in vogue in the ostentatious Russian court during the last quarter of the century.

Tuesday, September 22, 2020