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Comment by Lars Ray on March 17, 2015 at 21:45

Post Script: I have it on good authority from Mark Zalesky that the little doohickey at the choil has come to be called a "Spanish notch" by collectors and is traditional to antique Bowie knives, mostly of the 1830's and early 1840's, and also one of its ancestors the Mediterranean dirk.

Mark goes on to tell me that functionally speaking, it is believed to be more for decoration or appearances than anything else, although the notch on mine looks like it could be used to open a bottle of beer!