Navaja Folding Knife, Circa 1820

Title

Navaja Folding Knife, Circa 1820

Subject

Spanish weapons; Folding knives; Navaja; French weapons; 19th century arms; Valero Jun

Description

Navajas are traditional Spanish folding knives. The one shown below is 16 1/4 inches long when open and weighs almost 10 ounces. It has a 7 1/2 inch steel blade and a 8 3/4 inch handle decorated with bone and brass. A spring under the blade locks it into place when open. The blade is marked Valero Jun and Zaragoza. Valero Jun was an important Spanish knife maker in the city of Zaragoza. The style of the makers mark indicates the knife was made at the beginning of the 19th century. According to some sources Valero Jun imported fine Navaja style knives like this one from Thiers France and resold them with their mark. This style of Navaja is sometimes called a "tail rattler" (cola de crotalo), because the tip of the handle resembles a rattlesnake's tail.

Creator

Valero Jun, Spain/France

Source

(1) La Navaja Espanola Antigua, "cola de crotalo" (The Old Spanish Knife "tail rattler") by Martinez Del Peral Forton, Rafael 1980, page 409 of the 3rd edition

Publisher

weaponscollector.com

Date

circa 1820

Contributor

Frederick Eugene Williams III (known as Jack Williams), Collector

Rights

© weaponscollector.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0). Attribution required: "From the F.E. Williams III Collection at weaponscollector.com

Relation

The F.E. Williams III Collection of Antique Firearms

Format

image/jpeg

Language

United States English

Type

Still Images; Artifact Documentation

Identifier

111-0111

Coverage

Temporal: Early 19th Century
Spatial: Zaragoza, Spain

Bladed Weapon Style

Navaja de Muelles

Overall Length

16 1/4 inches

Overall Width

2 inches

Hilt Length

8 3/4 inches

Hilt Material

Brass & Bone

Blade Material

Steel

Blade Length

7 1/2 inches

Weight

9 7/8 ounces