19th Century Memento Mori Dagger w/ Skull & Cross Bones Flame Blade

This is a very handsome knife that measures 9 1/2" overall, with a 5" double-edged flame blade. The blade itself retains much of the original bright polish, with some thin spots of plum-brown freckling scattered along the edges of both faces. Some further dark freckling is present on the wide ricasso that is marked "Karl Kugler / slud techn (sic)" in script on the obverse. The crossguard has straight quillons with spherical finials, a long ferrule, and a tapered horn grip with filleted carvings at the pommel and an inlaid German silver skull with "MEMENTO / MORI" above and below. The grip is in good shape, but does have a few small chips and an old repaired crack at the ferrule juncture. The dagger is housed in the original dark brown leather sheath with metal throat and chape. The leather is lightly flaked, but still intact, and there is even dark surface oxidation on the chape. This is a very handsome dagger!