Svord Knives is teaming up with H.L. Dalis to produce a special, historically-accurate version of their long-running Svord Von Tempsky Bowie. Called the Gold Rush edition, this unique variant first released in a limited run of 25 pieces, but will soon see wider distribution.
The knife takes its name from Gustavus von Tempsky, a Prussian soldier of fortune. “He went where he felt like going, and where there would be work for an adventurer,” says Jon Blumenfeld, President of H.L. Dalis. Although von Tempsky traveled far and wide, he left his greatest legacy in New Zealand, where he led a contingent of Forest Rangers against the Māori.
Von Tempsky ended up in California during the Gold Rush, where he first discovered the Bowie knife. “He adopted it as a sidearm. He became proficient in it, and it became his trademark so to speak,” Blumenfeld tells us. In 1863 he commissioned a New Zealand bladesmith to make a batch of Bowie knives to his specifications for distribution among his men.
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