[Ian]

Hi Guy:

Hard to judge age and provenance from pictures. I'm going to assume that the wooden hilt and scabbard are covered with thin silver plate, and then silver wire decorations over that. That would be pretty standard for these knives.

The primary area producing these knives is the northeast portion of Burma (Shan States), neighboring northern Thailand, Laos and Yunnan Province (China). It seems these are common decorative items, frequently worn at weddings according to a couple of people who have visited the areas mentioned. They are often attributed to the Shan and various "hill tribes" in the region.

Many of these appear to have been produced since the late 19th C., and I'm not sure they existed much before that time. They are still being produced today. The best source may be Colquhoun, Among the Shan, (1885) where he shows a dha mhyaung that has a silver-covered hilt and scabbard. That is the earliest reference I know of. There is no example of this style of knife illustrated in Egerton's book (published 1880), one nice example is shown in Buttin's collection and attributed to Laos (published 1933), and I can find no similar knife illustrated in Stone's Glossary (published 1934). Levine (2001) shows an example which he dates as late 19th C., and indicates the style extends to 18-19th C, but he includes other hilt styles (including ivory) in this period and it is unclear whether he believes that the silver-over-wood hilts and scabbards are that old. In any case, I think the older publications offer a better understanding of the age of these knives.

So, judging from general appearance, best guess for your knife would be early 20th C. or later. Hope that is helpful and I look forward to further comments from the dhafia.

Ian.