Keris, inscription, rough age.

[Helleri]

I have to say, I quite like the bowie style they come in. And thank you wildwolberine and milandro for pointing me in the right direction.

[Sajen]

Hello Helleri,

The dagger is post WWII IMO to answer one of your questions. The handle material is buffalo horn would answer another question.
The scabbard was made from leather. And only for clarification, the dagger is not a keris.
Attached is a pic of a similar example found online.

Regards,
Detlef

[Sajen]

And here is a longer one, discussed in another forum, just found by accident when I was looking for similar examples. You will find that the inscription is "Negrito bolo". But these daggers have nothing to do with the "Negritos".Here the link: http://myarmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.14017.html

[Sajen]

Another one!

[Helleri]

Originally Posted by Sajen

Hello Helleri,

The dagger is post WWII IMO to answer one of your questions. The handle material is buffalo horn would answer another question.
The scabbard was made from leather. And only for clarification, the dagger is not a keris.
Attached is a pic of a similar example found online.

Regards,
Detlef

I noticed when he first showed it to me that the base of the blade doesn't wing out into a guard. It doesn't have those intricate hooks and curls of metal. the bolster doesn't taper down steeply, the handle is rather symmetrical. The inscription is lazy, the file work is bad...Seeing others like it. It actually looks like this particular one is not even an all that well done example of one of these.

I had a suspicion from the start that it was a tourist blade of some description. Just wasn't sure what else to call it since it felt like it leaned more toward keris than bolo for typical features (even though I know some arne't even wavy). Also keris or kris has sort of fallen into common parlance as relating that it's a wavy blade from th4e Philippines for many people that like knives but are not nearly as into arms and armor collection as you lot. So it does over time become easy to just use the phrase even when it's not technically correct. Maybe calling it a pseudo-keris would be appropriate.

[David]

Originally Posted by Helleri

Maybe calling it a pseudo-keris would be appropriate.

Not really. A keris is not at all dependent upon having a wavy blade. In fact most keris have straight blades. So calling a blade a "keris" based solely of the fact that it is a wavy blade never really makes sense. I do understand that it has become a rather common misconception though.

[Ian]

Hi helleri,

Thanks for taking such an interest in a friend's old bolo and posting it here for discussion. It's actually a fairly common knife from central/northern Luzon. So, not made in the Visayas. Many of these were made in the Province of Pampanga and sold to U.S. soldiers who were stationed at Clarke AFB and the US Naval base nearby at Subic Bay. They were usually sold with a soft leather sheath, stitched up the back, similar to the one shown in the pictures below.

The Negrito people (also known as Aete) are a small race who live in central Luzon. Some lived in areas on and adjacent to the old Clarke AFB. They do not make the knives that bear the name "Negrito bolo." This term was likely added to enhance the sale of such knives to U.S. servicemen who were friendly with the local Negrito groups. It should be noted that the Negritos were very active in resisting the Japanese occupation of Luzon during WWII, another reason to include their name on these knives for marketing purposes.

Similar wavy bladed knives were made before the mid-20th C, but were not labeled "Negrito bolo" until post-WWII.

Although these are knives that were made in some quantity largely for foreigners, the blades were often of reasonable quality, tempered, and could hold a sharp edge. They are legitimate weapons made in a strongly blade-oriented country.

[Helleri]

Yeah I feel like this thing is fairly solid. Like it could easily be used for bush whacking with no damage to it. And I don't think it being rather common or somewhat before the periods of big interest really matters. It's got a good story to it that plays out over decades. Perhaps a few details of which are not entirely true or accurate. But fun none the less. It will be a neat side project to make a new sheath for it as well that looks close to what the original might have.

[Bob A]

The inscription on the blade in question is pretty crude. This might lend itself to the idea that it is an early example, lacking the more sophisticated inscription and metal finishing in the later so-called "tourist" iterations.

Or perhaps it was made to emulate the successful tourist blades, but by a smith whose skills were less advanced, less commercial.

Closer to a folk art piece, IMO, and possibly an early post-WWII example.