I recently found this knife on ebay. From time to time, similar knives are offered, mostly of a poor quality. But when I received this particular piece, I noticed it was really well made.
It is a Bou-saâdi knife from the town-oasis Bou-saâda in Algeria. Here a link to situate this town :
http://lexicorient.com/e.o/bou-saada.htm
The knife comes with a simple scabbard of two pieces of wood, covered with some kind of leather. The handle of my piece is also made of wood, with some copper winding as decoration.
What's especially interesting is the blade. It's very well forged and razorsharp. Upon examining this piece, I found out that it was probably made from a file (look at the last pic).
I guess it dates from the Algerian War of Independence (1954–62). Probably it was brought back by a French soldier.
Measurements :
total length in sheath : 30 cm
length of blade : 18,5 cm
width of blade near the handle : 2,2 cm
the back of the blade near the handle is 6 mm thick
