ENIGMATIC AND HISTORICALLY SIGNIFICANT TEXAS BOWIE KNIFE

ENIGMATIC AND HISTORICALLY SIGNIFICANT TEXAS BOWIE KNIFE

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$9,500.00 ON HOLD

Quantity Available: 1

Item Code: 1032-201

Offered is an impressive, to say the least, clipped point "Bowie Knife" which is featured in a publication. A cut and thrust fierce looking weapon with a 15 1/2-inch blade that dates possibly as early as 1830 and no later than 1865. This compiler involved 100% in the hobby and trade since 1960 errs on the side of this knife dating to the time of the Texas Revolution 1835-36. Not only this, but it is also not beyond the realm of belief that this knife belonged to James (Jim) Bowie himself (James Bowie (1796-1836) | WikiTree FREE Family Tree).

Initially we will describe the knife and its background. The wooden 2-piece "slab" grips are held fast by 2 iron rivets. The grips are 5 1/4 inches long and 1 1/4 tapering down to 1 inch wide and "coffin hilt" like. The grips have minor age cracks but a beautiful surface. The nicely made hand guard is a simple iron oval disc that is 3 inches long and just over 1/8 of an inch thick. The iron or steel blade is 15 1/2 inches long and 1 3/4 inches wide but has a 1 1/8-inch ricasso which is 1 1/2 inches deep. There is a "false edge" along the top of the blade that is actually 11 1/2 inches long beginning 4 inches from the iron hand guard. It but descends to a "clipped point" 10 1/2 inches from the hand guard. This narrower ground false edge is 5 inches long. The extremely sharp blade was expertly wrought but gives a crude or scratched up look due to the fact it was honed (sharpened) a plethora of times during its working life. The blade shows what may be forging flaws, or pits from carbon inclusion but has a nice burnish and little rusting or pitting. The overall length of this knife is 21 inches. The handmade 1/8 inch thick leather scabbard is 15 3/4 inches long. It had a belt loop that was 3 inches long on the obverse or front side. The reverse is stitched its full length, and the seam is perfect. This brown/black dyed scabbard was made without a top mount or a bottom tip. There is minor loss at the tip and some scuffing along the outside edges but otherwise the surface is excellent. Tooled on it are both squiggly and straight lines, a 5-inch-long floral design and in the center on the obverse side in beautifully tooled 1 1/2-inch upright capital letters is: "J. P. B.".

This fighting knife was displayed for decades in the famous book shop of Norman Brock of San Antonio Texas. San Antonio prior to the Texas Revolution of 1835 was called San Antonio de Bexar and was the home of the Alamo. Please follow this link (Presidio San Antonio de Béxar - Wikipedia). From the 1950s through the 1980s, Norman Brock’s used bookstore in downtown San Antonio was a landmark known for its eclectic collection of more than a million volumes as well as coins, stamps and historic ephemera. Visiting dignitaries and local residents navigated the narrow paths and occasional book avalanches to pluck readable gems from the Brocks Books stacks and to visit with the store’s real attraction was Brock himself. When Brock passed and the store was liquidated this knife ended up in the hands of an advanced arms collector where it remained until consigned to the Horse Soldier. This knife at first whiff may be called Texas Confederate but experts have debated whether it is in fact not 1861 to 1865 but decades earlier dating back to the early years before statehood and before Texas was a republic. The story of the "Bowie Knife" will be well known to most who read this and this compiler will not dwell on it. The Bowie brothers, Rezin and Jim, made the fighting knife and themselves legends in their own time. As early as the 1820s the knife in a variety of shapes and sizes was evolving principally at the hands of Rezin Pleasant Bowie. Please click on these informative links (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowie_knife) and (The-Edwin-Forrest-Bowie-Knife-Larson-expanded-version.pdf).

Theory 1:  As a Texas Bowie Knife made in the late 1820s to mid-1830s could this weapon, identified with the initials "J. P. B", be James Bowie's own? Bowie the martyred hero of the Alamo. There is nothing inconsistent with a knife Bowie or his older brother Rezin might have designed and carried. Although of a utilitarian quality, that is a working tool, it is beyond certain the Bowies had several knives and several grades of knives from artisan quality to blades designed for everyday utilitarian use, camp life, hunting, brawling and warfare. In fact, both Bowie brothers were obsessed with knives. They gave commissions to cutlers and were known to present knives as forms of payment or gifts. So, who is J.P.B.?  It appears from the cursory sources that James Bowie had no middle name. This is odd because typically all his siblings and antecedents had middle names. Rezin Bowie Senior's middle name was "Pleasant". Jim's brother was Rezin Pleasant Bowie Jr. There is no explaining the use of "Pleasant" as a middle name for father and son. There are no "Pleasant" ancestors in the Bowie lineage. Evidently Pleasant was derived from the word pleasant meaning even tempered or enjoyable. Therefore, a term of endearment or praise turned into a middle name. And although it would be unusual to give 2 sons the same middle name it is not hard to believe. Jim just might have refrained by personal choice from using it.  Was the owner of the knife James Bowie? This possibility rises or falls on "P" being his middle initial. One internet source, not reliable, makes the claim that his middle name was Rezin.  More research is needed.

Theory 2: This fabulous Bowie knife is Texas Confederate. Several authorities have identified it as just that. Fittingly the knife is published on page 250 of the outstanding treatise Confederate Bowie Knives by Melton, Phillips and Sexton. Here the reverse side of the knife only is shown.

The knife is Texican. Its San Antonio background is solid and the possibility that it dates to the time of the War with Mexico in 1835 makes sense. If it is one of Jim Bowie's, which we are suggesting not claiming, the knife's value cannot be estimated but rest assured one million dollars would be only an opening bid at auction. If looked upon as a yet to be identified or unidentified Texas Bowie knife dating 1830 to 1865 then it is nicely priced at $9500.   [pe][ph:L]

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