File:Medieval to Post-Medieval Dagger Scabbard Chape (FindID 713271).jpg

English: An incomplete Late-Medieval or early post-Medieval copper-alloy chape from a scabbard, probably for a dagger (c. 1450-c. 1550).

The hollow chape is broadly shield shaped in plan, with curved sides which converge at the base where there is a solid rounded knop for a terminal.

The top of the chape is curved with a lip at the front and pointed at the sides. There is no lip at the rear. One of points is missing due to a break. At the front equidistant openwork consists of a line of three horizontal sub-circular holes near the top, a line of three horizontal sub-rectangular holes at the centre and a line of three horizontal sub-circular holes near the bottom. The rear face is flat and has two circular holes near the top at each corner. These are slightly countersunk. The sides are rounded and even.

This chape is red and green with flecks of a darker green patina. The break is old.

Height: 56.4mm; width: 32.6mm; thickness: 7.7mm. Weight: 19.61g.

The chape is most similar to Type I in the typological scheme published in the London Museum Medieval Catalogue (Ward-Perkins 1940: 285, fig. 87). However, it lacks the central projection at the top. Ward-Perkins (ibid.) dates these chapes to the late 15th or 16th century based on contemporary illustrations and dateable contexts of excavated of chapes from Fetter Lane, London. He suggests (ibid: 284) 'Metal dagger chapes were only used on the sheaths of military daggers or of the more elaborate forms of civilian dagger. The great majority of surviving leather sheaths belonged to ordinary knives or knife-daggers and these have no metal terminal.'

Other examples have been published by Bailey (1995, 70) and are considered to be Late-Medieval to Early post-Medieval in dating.

Ward-Perkins, J.B. 1940. London Museum Medieval Catalogue. London: HMSO.

Bailey, G. 1995. Detector Finds 2. Greenlight Publishing, Witham.