Need help with Brass knuckles

[hagen.191]

Hi folks. This one came out of an older collection. I dont know anything about it so any help is appreciated.

Best
Hagen

[Valter Gorenc]

Before WW1 and WW2 these were popular (they still are in certain social groups ...) and legal in most countries (today, such things are illigal in many countries) and widely used for fights. My opinion is the civilian use was more common than military one. In trench warfare, a knife, rifle butt or, as E.M. Remarque suggests in "Nothing new in the west" - a shovel were easier to obtain and more practical than knuckles. Using knuckles is not as simple as it seems - if you can't use them properly, you can break your fingers, and you can also damage your hand while hitting someone who wears a helmet. For civilian use they are more practical, can be hidden in a pocket and draw less attention in bar/pub/beergarden fight. My opinion is that majority of knuckles from 1st half of 20th century are civilian, including those on sale today as "trench" or "war" pieces. On the other hand, civilian knuckles were videly used in war, so without a rock-solid proof you can't tell if this or that piece was dug out in former trenches or it was thrown in a road ditch before police arrived on the scene of a civilian fight, many decades ago.

To conclude, I can prove that you have an archeological find of interesting piece of cold weapon, at least decades old, anything more will be a matter of speculation and/or imagination.

[hagen.191]

Before WW1 and WW2 these were popular (they still are in certain social groups ...) and legal in most countries (today, such things are illigal in many countries) and widely used for fights. My opinion is the civilian use was more common than military one. In trench warfare, a knife, rifle butt or, as E.M. Remarque suggests in "Nothing new in the west" - a shovel were easier to obtain and more practical than knuckles. Using knuckles is not as simple as it seems - if you can't use them properly, you can break your fingers, and you can also damage your hand while hitting someone who wears a helmet. For civilian use they are more practical, can be hidden in a pocket and draw less attention in bar/pub/beergarden fight. My opinion is that majority of knuckles from 1st half of 20th century are civilian, including those on sale today as "trench" or "war" pieces. On the other hand, civilian knuckles were videly used in war, so without a rock-solid proof you can't tell if this or that piece was dug out in former trenches or it was thrown in a road ditch before police arrived on the scene of a civilian fight, many decades ago.

To conclude, I can prove that you have an archeological find of interesting piece of cold weapon, at least decades old, anything more will be a matter of speculation and/or imagination.

Very informative! Thanks a lot for your great help [emoji106]