Some help with this knife, please

[Freddy]

I found this knife at the weekly antique market in Gent (my hometown). At first glance, I thought it was African. My guess was Baule or something in the neighbourhood.

The seller told me he got it from a lady who used to live in Burma (Myanmar).

So now I'm confused :confused: :shrug: ....and could use some help.

Description of this knife

Total length : 32 cm (12,8 inches)
Length of blade : 17,5 cm (7 inches)
Wooden handle, covered with two kinds of snake or lizardskin + two additional leather bands.
Top of handle is embellished with a copper nail
The iron blade is single-edged. There are some markings on the back of the blade, near the handle.

Here are some pics :

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v158/keris_hanuman/Afbeelding002-16.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v158/keris_hanuman/Afbeelding004-12.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v158/keris_hanuman/Afbeelding006-8.jpg

[kahnjar1]

Handle has very strong resemblance in shape to Dha handles. My pick would be Burma.....Hill Tribes?? Nice and unusual piece. :)
Stu

[fearn]

I'm torn about this one too, for the obvious reason: the reptile leather wrappings on the handle seem African, the shape seems SEA, along with that little X/_ line on the blade.

I'm actually leaning towards it being an assembled piece, perhaps with a SEA knife blade, some material from Africa or elsewhere, and put together to someone's personal taste.

F

[Freddy]

I don't know if you can determine perhaps the blade by its tang ? It's possible to take this piece apart by giving a 'twist' to the blade.

Here are some more pics

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v158/keris_hanuman/Afbeelding008-5.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v158/keris_hanuman/Afbeelding010-10.jpg



And here some more pics of the handle

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v158/keris_hanuman/Afbeelding018-3.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v158/keris_hanuman/Afbeelding020-3.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v158/keris_hanuman/Afbeelding021-3.jpg