Dagger [khanjar], laminated steel blade, carved nephrite jade hilt with a sheath of leather, gilt metal and nephrite, Lahore or Lucknow, 17th century

A dagger and sheath.
The dagger has a gently upward-curving, double-edged, laminated steel blade with a central ridge running along the length on both sides. The hilt resembles a pistol grip and has been fashioned in grey nephrite jade, curving downwards from about halfway and being decorated with a spiral arrangement of grooves and ridges along most of its length. The hilt's shaft has carved designs of flowers and leaves in low-relief and it is further embellished with forward facing scroll quillons and backward facing scrolls on the pommel. At the rear end, there is a small and rounded protrusion that has been carved as a lotus bud.
The gently curved sheath has been fashioned in leather with a black or very dark brown surface. There is a gilt metal mount or throat at the open end and the sheath's tip has been protected with a greenish grey nephrite jade chape that scrolls at the tip. The nephrite has been decorated on both sides with gilded inserts (possibly of wood or resin) in a flower and leaf design.

W. H. Cope Bequest

This dagger and sheath were acquired by W. H. Cope Esq. who valued them at £10-0-0.

William Henry Cope was considered an authority on ancient ecclesiastical stained glass and on old Plymouth china. He was also an important collector of china, jade and old Venetian and German glass, acquiring many of his pieces from sales of well-known collections such as the Beckford, the Bernal, the Guthrie, the Magniac and the Wells.
He became an Associate of the British Archaeological Association in 1863 and was elected to the BAA council in 1871 and regularly contributed to discussions on a broad range of subjects, often taking along objects from his own collections.
In 1880, Mr. Cope published the first of his articles, on the subject of jade, for the Journal of the BAA. He was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries on 1st July 1886 and was elected Vice-President of the BAA in June 1889, a post he continued to hold until his death in 1903.
He bequeathed his collections to The Victoria and Albert Museum.

The dagger hilt would most probably have been made as much for appearance as for functionality. Although, the nephrite jade would have enhanced the appearance of the dagger, the weight of the hilt would also have helped to counter-balance the steel blade. Although nephrite is a hard and durable material, one major disadvantage is that it could be liable to damage from sharp impacts, possibly sufficient to render the dagger unusable without a replacement hilt.
The blade too is a combination of appearance and functionality. The attractive patterning displays the laminations that have been built up during the forging process and which bestow great toughness and strength to the finished blade.

760&A-1903