A while back, while talking about poison and how often it was used, I made an educated guess that historically, most killings were done neither with poison nor with actual weapons (before firearms came into the picture, at least), but with everyday items, like farming implements and utility knives. And then I added this:
Crímenes y criminales en la isla de la calma (Mallorca 1884 - 1951)
I stumbled upon a book about crime in Mallorca from 1884 to 1951, and on the title page it features a trinxet, a traditional Mallorcan folding knife. The trinxet is a simple peasant knife with a curved blade and no locking mechanism, they carried it for cutting bread, plants, ropes, anything. And it’s featured there precisely because in many cases it was used as a murder weapon – in beautiful Mallorca, “the island of calm”. Isn’t that telling?
So hey, I got one!
So this is a variant of a very common knife, for farming and general utility. I'm not sure how it's called in English (pruning knife, maybe?), in French it's serpette and in Italian roncola (both of these mean “small billhook”), and in Castilian Spanish it's called tranchete. There are small variations in the shape of the blade and handle, but the basic design is more or less the same, and I'm pretty sure some version of it can be found all over the planet. Size may vary a lot.
This particular knife is quite small (~17cm / 6′ 8′’ inches open) and extremely ergonomic, it feels great in my (quite small) hand. The handle is made of horn and the blade needs cleaning lol. Or maybe not, I like the patina. (Interestingly, my deep appreciation for a nice patina on old carbon steel blades is PRECISELY matched by my deep aversion for scrubbing.)
The stamp says "Hnos. Campins / Consell". Consell is a small town in Mallorca, and the brothers (Hermanos => Hnos.) Campins are a local family of cutlers that go way back. I'm not sure how old it is, I'm eyeballing it to mid-20th century, although with these materials it's hard to tell: horn can deteriorate rapidly if you don't keep it away from water, and how the blade turns out depends entirely on the use.
The Catalan ganivet is cognate with knife: ganivet < Old Catalan canivet (originally diminutive) < Frankish *knīf < Proto-Germanic *knībaz ("knife"))
That stamp is still around, on trinxet knives too, but now it's owned by Martinez Albainox (big company) and they're all with wooden handles and obviously factory-made. This one probably came out of the (now closed) workshop. I really like it!
