More Apalit knives
I'm digging this one up again because I have been going through my collection of Philippine knives and found several more examples of Apalit knives.
Of the four, I think the second one may be the oldest Its wooden sheath has a crest with the Philippine eagle and the word "PHILIPPINE" vertically down the front of the sheath. The style of the eagle crest was common on knives just after WWII, especially on some of the Visayan talibon of that era, and I think this knife dates from that time.
The other three I think are later and were sold to U.S. service men stationed at Clark AFB or the naval base at Subic Bay. Both of these U.S. bases were within 25 miles of Apalit.
The top one is a very plain, no frills, work knife/bolo in a plain wooden sheath.
The second one I have mentioned already. It is the smallest of the four knives and still has a very sharp edge on the blade.
The third one is interesting for the carving on the hilt and scabbard. Earlier in this thread, I suggested that the shape of the hilt reminded me of a snake (naga). However, the hilt of this one has the carved head of what I think is a dolphin or porpoise, but might be a crocodile--see pictures below. This example is the only one that has the "toe" on the scabbard that Robert mentioned.
The fourth one obviously has a modified sheath, with leather wrapping the underlying wooden scabbard. Just so that we can be sure these knives are from Apalit, the blade of the bottom one has a partial "APALIT" stamp--see close up picture below.
These knives are not rare and they show up fairly regularly online. My guess is that they were inexpensive, well made, sturdy knives that appealed to U.S. servicemen who were stationed nearby and brought many of them back home. As those who brought them back got older, we have seen them come on the market more frequently.
Ian.
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