The small number of specimens on hand at present makes it undesirable to venture an opinion of their utility.
Knives. (Figs. 597, 598.)
In point of numbers these easily rank second to the numerous class of socketed spear-points. They have been recovered in considerable numbers in many parts of the state. At least four distinct types and some intermediate and peculiar forms are recognized. The close resemblance of some of these to the white man’s knife has frequently been remarked upon.
1. The most frequent form has a usually straight back and oblique curved or straight cutting edge. It is provided with a generally short, tapering, pointed tang, suitable for insertion into a wooden, bone, or horn handle. Such knives, ranging in size from diminutive specimens one inch in length up to twelve inches, are not uncommon in local collections. (Left specimen, Fig. 597.)
An exceptionally large and fine example in the Oshkosh Library collection measures seventeen and a half inches in length and weighs eleven ounces. The blade is one and a half inches in breadth at its base, and the tang is six inches in length. A few have the cutting edge of the blade beveled. In the R. Kuehne collection is a small hammered native silver knife of this type which was obtained from the vicinity of Sheboygan. A small number of these knives have their blades ornamented with incisions and indentations. Specimens of these are to be seen in the H. George Schuette, H. P. Hamilton, and other collections.
2. A second type is distinguished from the preceding by the greater breadth of its broad curved blade, which terminates in a broadly rounded point. In this style of knife the blade on one or both sides is frequently traversed from point to tang by a pronounced median ridge. The broad, flat tang also terminates in a blunt point. Such implements are to be seen in the Field Museum, Milwaukee Public Museum, State Historical Museum, H. P. Hamilton, and other collections. These vary in size from six to twelve and three fourths inches in length and from one and a fourth to two and an eighth inches in the extreme breadth of the blade. (One in Fig. 568.)
Fig. 598. (S. 2–3.) Copper spears, knives, and arrow-points. Collection of S. D. Mitchell, Ripon, Wisconsin.
3. A third type, locally known as the “handled copper knife,” differs from the preceding styles mainly in having the tang so uniformly broad as to obviate the necessity of a wooden or other handle. Only a small number of these are in collections. A fine specimen is seven inches in length. The handle is two and a half inches in length, and of a nearly uniform breadth of three fourths of an inch. It comes from Pardeeville, Columbia County, and is in the Logan Museum at Beloit. A knife in the J. T. Reeder collection, at Houghton, Michigan, has a broad copper ferule still encircling its tang. The tip of the tang is bent over, meeting the ferule. (Fig. 581, left specimen, near centre.)
4. Socketed knives. These resemble the knives of the type first described in the shape of their blades. They are provided with a socket similar to those of the socketed spears. A small number of these have been found and are to be seen in the H. P. Hamilton, H. George Schuette, and other Wisconsin collections. They range from two to nine inches in size.