|
|
| |
|
|
13" Goat foot handled dagger that belonged to General Fulcencio Batista. Some years ago I had the opportunity to deliver medical supplies to Havana Cuba. While there I was treated like royalty & was taken into majestic houses & saw many beautiful things. While in one house 'on a hill', an amazing story unfolded.
|
|
 |
| To the homeowner, ( a Santeria high Priestess) I expressed an interest in a large whimsical post war Italian ceramic & was turned down. I asked if anything else was available, she thought a moment & said wait here. I could see the legs of a thin elderly woman sitting in the other room as she spoke to her. After some muffled Spanish, out she came with this knife in her hand. Understand please that the woman in the other room spoke no English, the woman whom owned the home spoke little English, my guide reasonable English, & me, very little Spanish. In this enviorment I was told the following story. The woman who originally had the Knife, was as a young orpan girl attending a Government school being visited by the then young General, Fulcencio Batista. Seems the General witnessed an earing get ripped out of her ear & personally gathered her up & took her to the hospital. He monitored her recovery, befriending her, insuring her education & employing her until he left the country for good. She said he was at her wedding & was Godfather to her children in both the Christian & Santeria Church. They were members of the same Santeria church. She said he brought this back from his exile in Mexico, that it was his Santeria knife, (One cannot help but wonder of the intimacies of this knifes history.) & as he cleared out his office, Castro nipping at his heels, flipped this knife on her desk commenting that, "he will not be needing this where he is going". The woman eventually was given permission to emigrate to Mexico, & gave the knife to the Priestess before she left. Her asking price was substantial by Cuban standards, over 10 years salary. I thought about it all day, by early eve I was obsessed with it. There was absolutely nothing contrived, & I was sure of it's authenticity. I made a counter offer & a couple hours later she accepted. The guide took my offering & an hour or so later showed up, not only with the knife, but with a clearly authentic, hand tooled sheath with the letters, "GRAL FB". The icing. The blade is hand engraved, GENERAL FULCENCIO BATISTA, RECUERDO DE OAXACA 1945, & on the obverse also hand chased, a hunting scene. This was suppossedly presented to him by the people of Oaxaca. I am guaranteeing this as authentic & will give a one month return option to prove to your satisfaction otherwise. I will escro the funds till then. This is a true museum piece. I now have a video disk interiew with the Santeria Priestess, & it will accompany the purchase of the knife. |
|
|
