Thankyou all for your comments. I don't know the origins of the ball grip, but it would seem that the French get credit for it's popularity, even though the English liked it, and used it as well during the same time. As far as dating this particular knife, to be safe, I would give it last quarter of the 18th c. forward, but it could be later, or earlier. With the exception of certain features unique to a particular time, I find it very hard to pin point date many designs in knives. This knife is a loose copy of one in Madison Grants book that he dates from 1790 on, and identified as a French trade knife. My copy is a bit more refined in construction and design to be a typical trade knife, and in reality would have to have been made by a more skilled cutler, probably in France, England, or some other Euro country, although the Americas cannot completely be ruled out.
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