Rob Roy MacGregor's Sgian Dubh?

**Taygrd** · 31st October 10, 01:30 PM

I have been searching around the i-net for an actual picture of MacGregor's Sgian Dubh that is on display at Abbotsford. I have found prints but no actual pictures. I think I have it in a book somewhere, however that is a needle in a haystack expedition. Anyone happen to have one handy?

Thanks.

**CMcG** · 31st October 10, 02:28 PM

Here's a few images from Sir Walter Scott's Armoury at Abbotsford house. I'm not sure which is the knife you're looking for... why do you ask?

**Taygrd** · 31st October 10, 02:38 PM

I am looking to replicate the knife and wanted a good picture of it. The prints I have seen show it with a brown checkered grip, clip type blade, and a yellow stone on the pommel, however I would like to get as close to the original as possible. The knife in the last picture on the right looks similiar but since I have yet to visit Abbotsford I am unsure. Thanks for posting the great pics. It is obvious that one could spent hours upon hours looking through the place. Thanks agian.

**MacRobert's Reply** · 31st October 10, 03:00 PM

I was at Abbotsford earlier this year and am fairly sure that the Sgian Dubh on the right of the case is (allegedly) Rob Roy's. It is just below his (alleged) purse. His sporran is also on display but he appears to have been a man of many sporrans - I have now seen about five in different locations across Scotland! I say this as a word of caution about the provenance of such artifacts. On the other hand, they are from the correct era.

**Taygrd** · 1st November 10, 07:44 AM

Thank you for your responses. So RR MacGregors sgian is kind of like Wallace's sword

That is what I was looking for. Thanks

**Jock Scot** · 1st November 10, 07:57 AM

Originally Posted by MacRobert's Reply

I was at Abbotsford earlier this year and am fairly sure that the Sgian Dubh on the right of the case is (allegedly) Rob Roy's. It is just below his (alleged) purse. His sporran is also on display but he appears to have been a man of many sporrans - I have now seen about five in different locations across Scotland! I say this as a word of caution about the provenance of such artifacts. On the other hand, they are from the correct era.

Forgive if I am a tad cynical too, don't forget Sir Walter Scott was a professional romantic. It's a bit like BPC has slept in just about every house in the Highlands, planted every tree over 10ft high, hidden in every cave in Inverness-shire, OH and I was once earnestly informed by one American that he(BPC) built the Forth rail Bridge to get his army across!

Which is all a real shame, because sorting fact from fiction in Scotland that is so full of red herrings, that the truth I fear, will never be found in many cases.

**JerseyLawyer** · 1st November 10, 09:08 AM

Originally Posted by Jock Scot

Forgive if I am a tad cynical too, don't forget Sir Walter Scott was a professional romantic. It's a bit like BPC has slept in just about every house in the Highlands, planted every tree over 10ft high, hidden in every cave in Inverness-shire, OH and I was once earnestly informed by one American that he(BPC) built the Forth rail Bridge to get his army across!

We do the same thing with George Washington, so it's not in any way a unique phenomenon.

History in general is interesting enough in my mind without dressing it up. It's a shame sometimes that, especially for tourists, things tend to skew so much towards Sir Walter Scott and Brigadoon (or the local equivalent, if you're in the US.) I can't tell you how many times I heard the story of Burke and Hare in Edinburgh. You'd think nothing else happened in the City's history.

**Woodsheal** · 1st November 10, 03:11 PM

Highlanders of Rob Roy's era did not carry the sgian dubh as we know it: the small knife worn in the hose top. That practice began nearly a century after his death! The sgian shown in that display case is NOT an early 18th C. piece, as far as I can see.

Rob almost certainly carried a sgian achlais, or armpit dagger, which was a more substantial weapon than the little sgian dubh, which is just a fancy utility knife....

**BoldHighlander** · 1st November 10, 06:33 PM

Originally Posted by Jock Scot

Forgive if I am a tad cynical too, don't forget Sir Walter Scott was a professional romantic. It's a bit like BPC has slept in just about every house in the Highlands, planted every tree over 10ft high, hidden in every cave in Inverness-shire, OH and I was once earnestly informed by one American that he(BPC) built the Forth rail Bridge to get his army across!

Which is all a real shame, because sorting fact from fiction in Scotland that is so full of red herrings, that the truth I fear, will never be found in many cases.

Sounds a bit like the "Gunfight (near) the OK Corral" Jock!