Some help with this knife, please

Freddy · 28th August 2009, 02:32 PM

I found this knife at the weekly antique market in Gent (my hometown). At first glance, I thought it was African. My guess was Baule or something in the neighbourhood.

The seller told me he got it from a lady who used to live in Burma (Myanmar).

So now I'm confused

....and could use some help.

Description of this knife

Total length : 32 cm (12,8 inches)
Length of blade : 17,5 cm (7 inches)
Wooden handle, covered with two kinds of snake or lizardskin + two additional leather bands.
Top of handle is embellished with a copper nail
The iron blade is single-edged. There are some markings on the back of the blade, near the handle.

Here are some pics :

kahnjar1 · 28th August 2009, 08:50 PM

Handle has very strong resemblance in shape to Dha handles. My pick would be Burma.....Hill Tribes?? Nice and unusual piece.

Stu

fearn · 28th August 2009, 09:02 PM

I'm torn about this one too, for the obvious reason: the reptile leather wrappings on the handle seem African, the shape seems SEA, along with that little X/_ line on the blade.

I'm actually leaning towards it being an assembled piece, perhaps with a SEA knife blade, some material from Africa or elsewhere, and put together to someone's personal taste.

F

Freddy · 29th August 2009, 04:46 PM

I don't know if you can determine perhaps the blade by its tang ? It's possible to take this piece apart by giving a 'twist' to the blade.

Here are some more pics

And here some more pics of the handle

28th August 2009, 02:32 PM	#1
Freddy Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Sint-Amandsberg (near Ghent, Belgium) Posts: 830	Some help with this knife, please I found this knife at the weekly antique market in Gent (my hometown). At first glance, I thought it was African. My guess was Baule or something in the neighbourhood. The seller told me he got it from a lady who used to live in Burma (Myanmar). So now I'm confused ....and could use some help. Description of this knife Total length : 32 cm (12,8 inches) Length of blade : 17,5 cm (7 inches) Wooden handle, covered with two kinds of snake or lizardskin + two additional leather bands. Top of handle is embellished with a copper nail The iron blade is single-edged. There are some markings on the back of the blade, near the handle. Here are some pics :

28th August 2009, 08:50 PM	#2
kahnjar1 Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: CHRISTCHURCH NEW ZEALAND Posts: 2,731	Handle has very strong resemblance in shape to Dha handles. My pick would be Burma.....Hill Tribes?? Nice and unusual piece. Stu

28th August 2009, 09:02 PM	#3
fearn Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 1,247	I'm torn about this one too, for the obvious reason: the reptile leather wrappings on the handle seem African, the shape seems SEA, along with that little X/_ line on the blade. I'm actually leaning towards it being an assembled piece, perhaps with a SEA knife blade, some material from Africa or elsewhere, and put together to someone's personal taste. F

29th August 2009, 04:46 PM	#4
Freddy Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Sint-Amandsberg (near Ghent, Belgium) Posts: 830	I don't know if you can determine perhaps the blade by its tang ? It's possible to take this piece apart by giving a 'twist' to the blade. Here are some more pics And here some more pics of the handle