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Mexican Chispa

Mexican Colonial Chispa fire steel - based on originals found at archeological sites throughout the Southwest and Mexico. This style is primarily a Spanish Colonial style. Called eslabone - link - in Mexico because it resembles a chain link, and chispa - for spark - in the New Mexico areas of the Southwest US. Originals have been found throughout Mexico, California, the Southwestern US up into the Rocky Mountains, along the Mississippi River up to St. Louis, and in the Spanish Colonial settlements in and around the Gulf Coast. Through trade and conquest, some have also been found in the upper Colonies along the Atlantic. This would have been carried by vaqueros, peasants, priests, solidats, anyone operating in and out of Taos, Santa Fe, Bent's Fort, or any of the Tribes living in that area. Originals are pictured in the books Southwestern Colonial Ironwork: The Spanish Blacksmithing Tradition from Texas to California by Marc Simmons and Frank Turley, Firearms Traps and Tools of the Mountainmen, and several issues of The Museum of the Fur Trade Quarterly. Size is approximately 3 inch by 1 1/2 inch, and 1/8 inch thick.

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