April 17, 2024
Antique tintype - "Gentleman Stabber" with Bowie knife - image c. 1860's?
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This is an original 6th plate tintype of a handsomely dressed young man with his Bowie knife ready for business. "A fashionable weapon for a fashionable man". The early newspapers dubbed them "gentleman stabbers". The image is contained in the lower half of the case measuring 3-3/4" x 3-1/4". The cover has separated. This exact tintype was used for display at the Antique Bowie knife Exhibit "The Bowie Knife in America" held at the territorial museum in Little Rock, Arkansas in 2016. And also published on the cover of knife magazine (magazine will be included with tintype).The general consensus is that the fashion of wearing these life-and-death objects were pretty much gone after the civil war. But there are plenty of accounts of gamblers, and similar type characters who carried knives in the towns & cities west of the Mississippi after the civil war. Many of the San Francisco Dirks & Bowie knives, made well after the civil war to the turn of the century, still seemed to be a part of everyday wear for some people. I personally think this tintype was taken sometime in 1870's to 1880's judging by the way he's dressed.
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