This is a great late-19th Century presentation grade American Indian dag knife and sheath attributed to the Comanche Native American Indians of Northern Texas. The knife is comprised of a notch-cut war lance blade with hardwood handle. It shows an elaborately decorated design with brass and nickel / silver metal tacks on the handle. One side of the handle shows an old flat abalone shell disk affixed / inlaid and the other an old silver disk. The blade has some corrosion and is crudely punch stamped with a touchmark that reads “S BELL”. There was a blacksmith named Samuel Bell in Knoxville, Tennessee who is documented in several American Indian weapons and antique knife books as a maker of knives for the Indian trade, including dag knives. He later moved to San Antonio, Texas on contract for the U.S. Indian Service to manufacture and dela in wares for local Comanche, Kiowa, and Apache tribes. This knife is paired with an old harness leather and tacked sheath. Not all American Indian dag knives were paired with beaded Buffalo Bison hide or beaded buckskin sheaths, and several examples of documented dag’s were shown with tacked harness leather sheaths such as shown in this items pictures for examples sake. One such example sold through the Sherwood’s Spirit of America gallery in Santa Fe, another was in the respected LaDow Johnston collection and features in the book “Accouterments Volume 4.” The sheath in this lot has some scratches and wear to the leather, likely from belt and saddle rubbing and measures by itself 12 inches in length. In typical Southwestern Comanche / Apache fashion, it has a Texas star concho and nickel conchos attached. This set was said to have been collected from a Comanche elder at Fort Sill, Oklahoma from the ex-Tom Hardy collection. The dag knife measures 13 ½ inches in length.