Is this a woman's dagger
 

I bought this dagger on Lombok (Indonesia) in 1979. It was offered to me as a woman's dagger. My question is: Has anyone come across this type of dagger before, does it have historical/cultural value or is it just local craftsmanship? The material is bone. probably from a cow.

In Central Jawa we would call this a "Stok Komando", ie, a command baton. But this is a pretty elaborate example, normally these a quite plain, similar to a military baton.

In this type of item, the blade is usually an old tombak.

OK thanks. I never expected that.

Hello Godfried and Alan,

An interesting item Godfried and thanks for the clarification Alan. I've had a similar tombak for many years and thought it was in just an ordinary, fairly plain, dress for a tombak. Alan, do you think this item is also a Stok Komando?

OAL = 20 in. (~50 cm)
Blade = 7 3/4 in. (~19.5 cm)


Ian.


.

That's what we'd call it in Solo, Ian.

Its a pretty recent idea, I believe that it does go any further back than the Sukarno era.

Thanks Alan. Appreciate your opinion. The blade is obviously older than the dress. Sukarno era or later would fit the wooden hilt and scabbard.

Yes, the blade is very old, in Mojopahit times and later spears sometimes had ribbons as adornment, these holes in the base were probably intended to accommodate ribbons. See Quaritch Wales on banners.

The dress could have been made yesterday morning, this sort of thing is very common in Jawa, thing is, it is not, to the best of my knowledge, an old style of dress. Sukarno carried one of these things, and this is what made them popular.

Best not to try to own one in NSW without the proper permit. That warning probably applies to the entire Land of Oz.

Ian, yours looks as if it might be ovoid rather than round, as a command baton (ie, "stok komando") it would be expected to be round, so lacking the round form it then becomes just one of the modern ways in which to dress a tombak:- if ovoid it is not pretending to be something it might not be, thus probably not subject to prosecution for possession.

Alan,

You have an extremely acute eye! The cross-section of the hilt and upper scabbard are very slightly ovoid. So slight is the deviation from cylindrical, I had to get out the calipers and measure the diameter in two directions--the difference was barely 1–2 mm! Towards the toe of the scabbard it does become circular, with virtually identical diameters in two directions.

Thanks again for the additional information.

This was one of nearly 100 items retained by the Australian Border Force after I declared my entire collection of edged weapons on arriving in Australia from the USA. It was returned, along with the other retained items, after I obtained the relevant police permit in Victoria. Permitted items need to be stored securely, in the same way as firearms in Australia.

I purchased this tombak in 2001.

Ian.

Here is my one in a very similar fashion, 49,5 cm long.