Stabby stick
 

A friend of mine gave me this odd short (~54cm) stick or club with a crude hidden blade. It screws into the grip and is covered with a pattern that is reminiscent of a smiling face of sorts. The wood is sturdy but the blade is crude. Wood and metal ring on the scabbard appears to be covered in varnish.

He found it among his late mother's possessions. She apparently travelled all over the world so it could be from anywhere.

Can anyone help me figure out what it is and where / when it is from?

A not that nice swagger stick dagger. Sorry to be so blunt.

Thanks! I guess that gives me the what, although I'm still wondering about the whence and the when.

Well, I have eyes so I can see it's not too fancy. :D

these are not uncommon in the NL, have seen them before.
They may have come from anywhere although the ones I have seen were claimed to be Indonesian.


They are, by the way, I believe, forbidden in our country since the law specifically prohibits weapons which look like a different object (a swagger stick ).

Someone I know had been offering it on line on marktplaats and was quite promptly visited by the police. Be therefore aware of this possibility.

Thanks for the warning. I tried looking this up when I bought an antique swordstick but at the time I could not find anything saying they were illegal other than the vaguest of allusions to "other undesirable weapons" or something to that effect. And there is at least one producer offering modern made sword sticks here (Noblie). But I'll refrain from marktplaatsing it (I've never sold anything so far anyway). :D

This may be a relatively recent stok komando made popular by President Sukarno. Basically a swagger stick with a concealed blade, sometimes an old tombak. There was discussion of these here.

again, seen the relative frequency of these weapons in The Netherlands and the contacts with Indonesia and the many tourists going there (although bringing one back to the NL is highly discourageable, because, as said before, their possession is forbidden.

It is really possible that they are this Indonesian " stock commando" that is spoken about the other thread .

I have seen them here and there and not everyone is aware of the stringent norms concerning this items.

These fall under the category 1 of the Dutch weapon law and in particular they are " weapons with an external look resembling another object"

Their possession (so not only the trade) is in itself forbidden. It isn't only the trade... .

I am not saying that therefore people don't have them. As said, I have seen them.

Also walking sticks ( so swordsticks too) with blades hidden inside fall in the same category...

https://www.messen.nl/wet-en-regelgeving

Ah, that is quite possible. She almost certainly did visit Indonesia at some point. Thanks!

Hmm, that is unfortunate. The longer stick in particular is quite interesting to me as it has a full length 19th c blade and doubles as a measuring stick of exactly 1m with cm and dm indicators. Would hate to see that destroyed for [reasons].

that long stick is certainly a beautiful blade BUT they are only forbidden if the are together...
If kept separate they are one admissible blade and one sheath....

they only become forbidden if one is into the other :rolleyes: