Newbie: Lots of Help Needed!

[Ian]

Lace:

I have uploaded the pictures of your talibon so that we can look at it on this page rather than switching back and forth (you can upload files directly by using the "Attachment" feature found below the text area in the "Posting" page).

The carving on your talibon sheath appears to be typical work from the early 20th C and later. The eagle and crest can be found on several Philippine coins during the period of American colonization, roughly 1900-1945, when the coins of the Philippines were US currency. This is the Philippines style of eagle, not the American style of eagle found on US coins.

The five-pointed star with an inner circle may be a Katipunan symbol, but I am unsure and would have to do some research. Perhaps others have a more definite identification for you. The fist (left-hand in a cuffed shirt sleeve) was a Katipunan symbol of defiance, but it is still found today on Philippine knives and does not necessarily date this knife or scabbard to the period of Katipunan activities during the uprising against Spain and the early years of American rule.

The ensemble is very similar to other knives and scabbards produced in the eastern Visayas immediately after WWII, largely to sell to returning GIs as souvenirs. This part of the Philippines was the first to be liberated from Japanese occupation upon Macarthur's return, and a lot of GIs passed through this area, which probably accounts for the large number of GI bringbacks we see from the eastern Visayas dating to that time.

This style of narrow-bladed knife is fairly common. I have attached a picture of one of mine from around the same time period that has a dog-head pommel, similar narrow blade, and the scabbard has a Philippine coin embedded which shows the eagle and crest.

Ian.