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Originally Posted by Ian
Hi Xasterix:
Thanks for the follow up and links.
The Ashoka knife is interesting, but I note the comment by Dimasalang in that thread, "... The wavy blade is obviously of Ilocos or south Philippines, so it is very odd to see this coming from Cavite ... this could just very well be a sword made by a Cavite smith who wanted to replicate a Ilocano blade." I agree with these comments indicating that wavy-bladed knives and swords were atypical of Cavite styles, and that an Ilocano influence was likely.
The Tejeros dagger in the second link has a straight, double-edged blade and does not seem to inform our discussion of possible wavy-bladed weapons from Cavite. The sheath for this one does have silver mounts at the throat and chape of the leather sheath. Indeed both this example and the one in the first link have leather sheaths, rather than horn (as for the item that is the topic of this thread). In this regard, I would point to some of the modern examples posted by migueldiaz of Ilocano knives showing leather sheaths with brass mounts at the the throat and chape.
Do you have other examples of wavy-bladed knives or swords from Cavite?
Regards,
Ian |
Hullo Ian,
I don't have more samples that I can show publicly, unfortunately. It's already conjecture on my part since the metal trimmings on the scabbard are atypical of Ilocos Norte wavy blades. Especially that guard.
If it helps, an elderly panday from Ilocos Sur has confirmed that the style of the dagger isn't consistent of their region. He is a 4th generation panday. He was once featured by Lorenz, whom I closely coordinate with.
Sadly, I can't get any feedback from modern Cavite pandays. None of them know the old blades anymore. It's fortunate that the Ilocos region still has old pandays who carry on their staple trad blades, and whom I can compare notes with.
The wavy blade isn't an exclusive feature of Ilocos. There are samples of wavy blades marked Taal. I even have a blueprint of sorts dated 1917 from Taal which clearly indicated the wavy blades as one of their blade profiles, among others. In fact if I would form an alternative conjecture that if not Cavite, then this piece may be from Taal.
I've been digging a lot into both old and new samples of Ilocos-region blades, as well as the rest of Luzon. As former members of this forum have pointed out - there's actually much less old blades that came from Ilocos. A lot of old blades have been misattributed to the Ilocos when in fact they're more consistent with blades from Southern Luzon, especially from lesser known areas. Where old samples failed to link a provenance, modern samples have provided solid clues and even positive hits.