Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post - Unusual brass-hilted knife--opinions sought re origin

Ian · 8th December 2014, 03:26 AM

Dave:

Thanks for your thoughts. Yes, Assam is an interesting melting pot of styles. Tribes there have connections to the Kachin and Shan, which particularly interests me as I have a fondness for swords of the Myanmar groups.

An item finished on eBay this evening and unfortunately I was outbid on it. It is a dha with brass hilt that has some of the same spiral elements as the knife I posted as the subject of this thread. In the case of this dha, the brass overlies a wood core and shows repousse work on the pommel. Although the seller put it up as Burmese, I doubt that attribution based on the decoration on the hilt. It may well have a similar origin as the knife, and I have some pictures of Assamese tribal groups with long swords that resemble dha with "lotus bud" pommels.

Here are the seller's pictures from the auction.

Ian.

8th December 2014, 03:26 AM	#3
Ian Vikingsword Staff Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: The Aussie Bush Posts: 4,034	Dave: Thanks for your thoughts. Yes, Assam is an interesting melting pot of styles. Tribes there have connections to the Kachin and Shan, which particularly interests me as I have a fondness for swords of the Myanmar groups. An item finished on eBay this evening and unfortunately I was outbid on it. It is a dha with brass hilt that has some of the same spiral elements as the knife I posted as the subject of this thread. In the case of this dha, the brass overlies a wood core and shows repousse work on the pommel. Although the seller put it up as Burmese, I doubt that attribution based on the decoration on the hilt. It may well have a similar origin as the knife, and I have some pictures of Assamese tribal groups with long swords that resemble dha with "lotus bud" pommels. Here are the seller's pictures from the auction. Ian. Attached Images