This is a wonderful 19th Century American Indian Dag Knife attributed to the Blackfoot Native American Indians of western Montana. The piece comes from a large, private Missouri collection and features an old Blacksmith rasp file dag blade. The blade is forged from the old rasp into a typical dag knife beaver back pattern with double edge blade and slight raised central area. The blade is secured to the hard wood handle by two large copper rivets and an old wrap of copper telegraph wire. The handle is decorated with large and small brass trade tacks along with an artful silver pewter poured inlay of a four-point morning star on one side and a heart on the other. The dag knife is commonly referred to as a beaver paddle, beaver back pattern. These rasp forged dag knives were commonly frontier made and traded amongst tribes of the Northern Plains. This knife is from a private Missouri collection. It measures 15 inches in length.*