This arrived this morning - i saw a picture with a very similar hilted dagger in ariel's 'balkan knife' thread earlier
& believe it was referred to as a 'lebanese dagger' :
6.5" loa, 3" fullered double edged blade, bone grip with inlaid coloured dots, brass guard similarly inlaid (not painted), scabbard is brass covered wood, two suspension loops with a pricked in decoration. rear of scabbard has an arabic inscription
. brass pommel cap with enscribed parallel lines and a central steel spot where the tang has been peened on & polished smooth. all the brass has been polished recently (arghh! why do they do that?), but some patina remains in the deeply inscribed decoration
no info provided on date or provinance other than it might be early 1900's (?) were these 'ladies' daggers? how were they carried - seems very top heavy at the suspension rings...
(price was very low)