Unknown Short Sword
Hi All,
Has anyone seen one of these before. The hilt looks like a Kachin dao hilt. The ferrule is exactly the same as a khukri ferrule. The 19" (48.26cm) kopis blade looks like a huge, curved warncliffe and appears to have been made from a file (one heck of a whacking big file at that). The spine of the blade is just under 3/8" (9.525cm) at the hilt and shows no real distal taper until the down curve at the tip. There is a 1-5/8" (41.275mm) ricasso and the blade is symmetrically ground. The sheath is black leather wrapped wood. The leather wrap is expertly stitched along the back with a single seam from throat to tip. Under the leather, there appears to be a cord binding holding the upper portion of the sheath together. There is a decorative leather flap below this binding that appears to have had one time some sort of leather suspension loop.
It is important to note that the ferrule fits the hilt and blade perfectly and the blade fits into the sheath just as well, so this isn't some sort of cobbled together chimera. All of the components are consistent with Nepalese manufacture but I have never seen anything like this before.
Sincerely,
RobT
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