Borneo jungle knife HMP

[Royston]

Here is a jungle knife, presumably from Borneo. What makes it interesting is that it is stamped H.M.P

Dimensions are shown in the photos and the blade is 1/4 inch thick at the ricasso.

What is the significance of HMP ?
The owners initials ?

Or is it His/Her Majesty's Prison ? I suppose that this is possible if it came from British North Borneo although I cannot find a reference to there being one as all the searches I tried just came up with POW camps.

All comments welcome.
Regards
Roy

[Sajen]

Intersting piece! :) But have no clue, sorry. :shrug:

[Ian]

What a lovely short parang. Reminds me of a baby parang latok or buko. Definitely a serviceable tool/knife. I would say this one is WWII vintage judging from the sheath with its metal (iron) bands that look as though they came from old ammo boxes.

The closest name I can think of is buko, which is the Land Dayak's equivalent of the longer parang latok. Even for a buko, the blade is unusually short. There is a brief description of the buko in v. Zonneveld's book (p. 36).

The imprint of "H.M.P." does not ring any bells for me.

Ian

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Albert van Zonneveld. The Traditional Weapons of the Indonesian Archipelago, Zwartenkot Art Books: Leiden, 2001.

[kahnjar1]

Hi Roy,
What about HM Police??? More likely than "Prison" I suspect.,
Stu

[Rafngard]

The blade form looks a bit like a Lumad sangi.

Nothing else does though.

Good Luck,
Leif

[Henk]

Gentlemen,

Searching in dutch on HMP Dutch Army gives the result that HMP refers to the Dutch Indonesian Army

het Nederlandsch-Indische Leger (H.M.P) - KNIL Voorschrift, DvO 11-5 ...

Unfortunately i cann't figure out what HMP means.

[asomotif]

Gentlemen,

Searching in dutch on HMP Dutch Army gives the result that HMP refers to the Dutch Indonesian Army

het Nederlandsch-Indische Leger (H.M.P) - KNIL Voorschrift, DvO 11-5 ...

Unfortunately i cann't figure out what HMP means.

HMP = Handleiding voor de militaire paardenverplegers

= "guide for military horse care"

I don't think the letters in this blade refer to a dutch military guide.

No other clues though.

Appears to be Borneo style imho.

Would call it a parang myself.

Best regards,
Willem

[Royston]

Thanks everyone.
Didn't think of Police. Will have to investigate further.
Cheers
Roy