Ave!

Table Knife with Blade, c. 1st-3rd Cent., Rare!

Copper alloy; 125mm/68.7gm!

Con/ Blade; some pitting in the iron, as expected. Handle; about As Cast with unbroken green patina.The iron blade has been preserved to prevent any further rusting. :-)

Description/ See the photo; one picture is worth 1000 words!

Seller's Note/ All such Roman table knife utensil's were designed with a flat bottom so they could be stood on end, blades facing up on the tabletop. In nearly every case with such knife handles, just the vestiges of their iron blades remain due to so many years of corrosion in the ground. See the final photo of an example of a roached out Roman iron blade.

So, why is the blade in our table knife in such extraordinary condition? Our only explanation is that it had to have been resting deep in muddy/wet ground where the absence of free oxygen caused an anaerobic environment that slowed the degradation of the iron and preserving the handle as well.

A beautiful reminder that even in the Roman provinces of Dalmatia and Pannonia, there was still decorum in middle-class to upper-class Roman homes.