Mystery knife who can help ?
 

My friend Alex found this dagger which has some Burmese features. But is it Burma ?
Double edged blade, carved horn hilt, showing a demon figure. Total length 38 cm.
All mountings are silver gilted with stones.
The scabbard is wood and does not look like Burma, more like India. I dont know it
and therefore I am puzzling.
Any suggestions ?
Best regards
Kurt

I have no idea but the hilt looks Balinese to me

Looks like a balinese ukiran indeed. Maybe a priests knife from Bali or Lombok?

Hello Kurt,

never before have seen something similar. The hilt is indeed Balinese.
What is the material between the both gold (?) fittings at the scabbard? Look as well like Balinese work. What is the handle material?
European blade? Fitted on Bali? Just a thought.

Regards,
Detlef

I agree that the hilt looks like it is from Bali to me. The work around the top of the sheath looks Indonesian, but the motifs don't exactly look Balinese to me. A better photo of the blade might help confirm whether it is SE Asian or European.
It's a beautiful thing for sure, but i'm not convinced yet that it is of truly ethnographic origin as a complete dagger. :shrug:

There are hunting knives made by Indian masters in the 19-20 centuries for British officers/ administrators with mixed native/European motives. This may be an Indonesian analogue of it.
But what puzzles me, is the similarity of the handle and the Thai/Burmese Dha handles presented in the Robert Hales' book. Pure IMHO, though.