Antique Victorian 1890's Quatrefoil Sgian Dubh

The blackwood hilt has a basket weave design and the top mount set with a citrine style crystal mounted in a rub over thistle mount. The scabbard mounts have a barbed quatrefoil engraved design. The mounts are in an un hallmarked silver.

Blade in antique condition with some tarnish etc as you would expect on a sgian dubh with 100 plus years of history - please see photographs. The scabbard leather has an indented grove in the leather, but well polished patina.

The Barbed Quatrefoil Design

The barbed quatrefoil is a quatrefoil pierced at the angles by the points of an inscribed square, which gives an image akin to an heraldic rose, which is termed "barbed" due to the stylised thorns which project at the intersection of each pair of petals. The quatrefoil pattern looks a bit like a four-leaf clover or like a flower with four petals.

The word, ''quatrefoil'' comes from the Latin words for ''four'' and ''leaf.'' This design has been around for centuries and has been used by various cultures dating back to 700 BC. In Scottish culture the design has been used as a good luck symbol in the old Celtic and Norse designs, to early Christian designs in church design and manuscripts.