Athanase:
A significant French presence in SE Asia came later than other European nations. It was not until the late 18th/early 19th C that any substantial French presence existed in mainland SE Asia. French Indochina was not established until the second half of the 19th C. It's quite possible that the knife was purchased in the 19th C. by a French traveler to Indonesia or to one of the French Indochina centers trading with Indonesia. More likely, I think, is that the knife was purchased in Zanzibar, and hence the Zanzibar attribution. M. Pinson might have been a sailor and picked this up almost anywhere, but there is the Zanzibar attribution that needs to be explained.
Ian.
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