Sheath, sheath lining

Leather sheath lining from a multiple sheath. This is cut down from a sword scabbard and therefore would originally have been used as a lining for a scabbard with an integral by-knife sheath. At some point this scabbard lining has been cut down and apparently reused as a dagger or large knife sheath. There is a moulded ridge or boss on the upper part of the front, a feature noted on other 16th century sword scabbards. The ridge would have helped to prevent the loops that suspended the scabbard from the belt from coming off and is found on examples from the Mary Rose, sunk in 1545 (for example, scabbard 81A1734 (Hildred et al, 2011, 795)). The lining itself has parallel sides and a squared tip (where the rest of the length of the scabbard was cut off) but the impression of the dagger blade is moulded in relief on the front surface. There is a centre back seam with flesh/grain fine stitch holes. There are no attachment slots and the top may have been cut or trimmed.