Description (Labels & Markings)
Faded black writing on blade, now illegible.
Event Date
Author: Sophie Wardle

Context (Related Documents)
The contents list for the box in which this object was found stored in 2025 states that it contains a 'Collection of Fakes and Forgeries'.
Event Date
Author: Nora J. Klages-Miller

Context (Related Documents)
See 'Report on Collections Research and Cataloguing Project on Post Medieval 'To Be Disposed Of' Material' by David Kay in the archive (Doc.474) for background information.
Event Date 2019
Author: Nora J. Klages-Miller

Context (References)
Wardle, Sophie. 2023. 'Encounters with Londinium: Nineteenth-Century Responses to London's Roman Past'. Unpublished PhD thesis. Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository.
Event Date 2023
Author: Sophie Wardle

Description (Physical description)
Forgery of an antique knife or dagger made from copper alloy. Zoomorphic pommel, depicting the head of a creature with avian features including a squared beak. Cylindrical grip with spiralling groove running down its length. 'S'-shaped guard with roundel at centre depicting a lion's head on both faces. On one face the additional inscription 'MOMI' is included beneath. Long tapering blade with blunted tip; diamond cross-section. Handle and blade are not precisely parallel with each other. Mould-made. Likely a Shadwell forgery (commonly referred to as a 'Billy and Charley').
Event Date 10/2/2025
Author: Sophie Wardle

Context (Analysis)
Although best known for their forgeries of 'Medieval' medallions and figurines, the London-based forgers William Smith and Charles Eaton ('Billy and Charley') are also recorded as having produced 'Roman daggers'. An object of the same form as TEMP.03425 was identified as one such 'Roman' forgery in the 1860s. For discussion, see Wardle 2023, p. 209 (see also fig. 85a-b).
Event Date 12/2/2025
Author: Sophie Wardle