Hilt of dagger?

[yaz]

New to the forum and would appreciate your help in identifying this. A buddy and I found it under several inches of sand while detecting on a beach in Northern California. Because the beach is pretty remote (we got their by sea kayak), I'm pretty sure that it's from a shipwreck of which there are a number of various vintages just offshore. Looks like the remains of a hilt to a dagger to us, but probably just wishful thinking. Any ideas? And any ideas on how, or whether we should even try, to clean it?

What are the dimensions of it? Perhaps electrolsis might be a way to clean it without damaging it. That is just my opinion.

[PAPPY]

YAZ, DON'T CLEAN IT. Please let me know the deminsions of the item. At first look it appears to be the guard of a dagger BUT I would really love to know how large it is and how much it weighs...THANKS....PAPPY

[PAPPY]

P.S. WELCOME to the FAMILY here at Treasurequestxlt YAZ. Great to have you and if you need anything...Just Holler...PAPPY

[yaz]

The "Dagger" measures 4 inches wide by 3 inches long by 1 inch deep. It's light. Will have to measure it on a postal scale. Maybe about a pound. And thanks for the welcome and the quick responses.

[RingDancer]

Hope you have a great find there!

HH
Pat

[sue,uk]

this is really interesting stuff! i too hope it turns out to be a dagger or sword hilt. keep us posted yaz

[PAPPY]

YAZ, I have blown your photo up 60X and taken a really close look at the item. According to your measurements, it is consistant with a dagger that would have supported a handle approx. 5"-6" in length and a blade that would have been approx. 10"-12" in length, 1" wide at the top tapering to approx. 7/8" at the point.This would have been considered a (Double Dagger) or (Mini Sword) as most daggers are usually made with a 8"-10" blade.
The only means of cleaning the item would be through Electrolysis.
It appears to be very old and has numerous layers of rust.
I would make it a point to go back to the spot that it was located and search the area very carefully to see if any of the handle and blade remains in the area.....Even though it would be in very poor condition...
NOTE** I would NOT clean it at all even with Electrolysis. I doubt if there would be anything left after cleaning.....Hope this helps a little and wish I could tell you more.....PAPPY

P.S. It would be impossible to try to give you an age on the item. That would have to be done by someone at a museum.(Due to the item having so much rust build-up). Wish I could help more...PAPPY

[Hyponizer]

In the fourth picture, it looks like that could be a bolt, i see threads.

[yaz]

Thanks Pappy for your calculations. We'll take your advice about not cleaning it. Have tried electrolysis on other beach finds and have not had much success anyway.

And Hyponizer is right about the threads. I've been doing research tonight to see if the threads on what I think is called the tang (of the blade) gives a clue to its age.