A pair of interesting Philippine Edged Weapons

[Ian]

Hi Drac,

Two nice Luzon knives with some age I believe.

The smaller one with the triangular blade plus D-guard with down-turned quillion has Spanish colonial features. I think this one was locally made in Luzon (the full tang hilt and Spanish colonial features suggest Luzon rather than Visayas) and perhaps from the Batangas/Lake Taal area to the south of Manila. The lines and cross-hatching are features I've seen on other Batangas/L-T knives. This one could be late 19th C in manufacture.

The longer one has not been cut down in my opinion. The shape of this blade is commonly found in Northern Luzon (Ilokos) as well as Central Luzon (Pampanga) and other Tagalog areas. The Visayan scabbard appears misplaced for this knife. Hard to judge the age of this one. Perhaps WWII-era or a little earlier.

Regards, Ian.

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by Ian

The smaller one with the trinagular blade plus D-guard with down-turned quillion has Spanish colonial features. I think this one was locally made in Luzon (the full tang hilt and Spanish colonial features suggest Luzon rather than Visayas) and perhaps from the Batangas/Lake Taal area to the south of Manila. The lines and cross-hatching are features I've seen on other Batangas/L-T knives. This one could be late 19th C in manufacture.

Hi Ian,
I would disagree, I think that this dagger is pure Visayan. Maybe Xas will join in and can tell us more about this dagger.

Originally Posted by Ian

The longer one has not been cut down in my opinion. The shape of this blade is commonly found in Northern Luzon (Ilokos) as well as Central Luzon (Pampanga) and other Tagalog areas. The Visayan scabbrd appears misplaced for this knife. Hard to judge the age of this one. Perhaps WWII-era or a little earlier.

Agree with you!

Regards,
Detlef

[Ian]

Hi Detlef,

What puts me off a Visayan origin for the smaller knife is the full length tang and the form of the D-guard. Perhaps something from Cebu, but I think that is less likely than Luzon.

Regards, Ian.

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by Ian

What puts me off a Visayan origin for the smaller knife is the full length tang and the form of the D-guard. Perhaps something from Cebu, but I think that is less likely than Luzon.

Hi Ian,

Of course you could be correct, the complete handle and the full tang construction looks very Luzon to my eyes as well. It could be a Luzon dagger sheathed in a Visayan scabbard. But the scabbard seems to be made for this blade. When I saw this dagger I remembered directly an old thread where Zel has shown some very nice Visayan blades, the engraving at the ricasso area and the blade cross section are very similar, see the pics. But like always I could very well be wrong.

Regards,
Detlef

[drac2k]

The bottom dagger does have similar engraving at the ricasso as well as that triangular shaped blade.

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by drac2k

The bottom dagger does have similar engraving at the ricasso as well as that triangular shaped blade.

Hi David,

What I stated! I directly remembered this old thread when I saw your dagger the first time. I think that the blade has clearly Visayan features.

Regards,
Detlef

[drac2k]

Right. It was so well said by you, that I had to state it again. Sometimes my brain has a delayed reaction, lol.