Ed,
Thank you so much!!! I think you have solved my riddle. The Oriental figure (a woman I believe) on the sheath could easily be Chinese, and
pu-ehr tea, which is manufactured in bricks, is peculiar to Yunnan and neighboring northern Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. There is a nice online explanation of
pu-ehr tea and
pu-ehr cakes
here.
My knife is clearly decorative in its sheath, and would fit well a tea service. As to its origin, I think we need to look to where
pu-ehr tea is popular in southern China and neighboring SE Asia. The hilt is carved horn, with what I have called a dog-head pommel, but could be a cat. The horn type is consistent with water buffalo and it has some slight beetle damage consistent with horn damage on other hilts, etc. The brass sheath has a plain rear side and the engraved front as shown above and in more detail in Wayne's post.
Wayne, thanks for enlarging the picture of the front of the sheath. Thanks also to Stu who raised the idea the figure could be collecting tea. I had not thought of tea when I first saw it.
I'm fairly sure that Ed has nailed this one, and I thank him for finding the closely matching blade profile.
For our archives, here are pictures from the site Ed referenced:
.
And with a
pu-ehr tea cake:
.
