Luzon or Panay?

[RobT]

Ian,

Your point about the Bowie knife nomenclature being overused in the US is well taken, especially when you consider that exactly what the original Rezin Bowie produced item looked like is unknown and that many British made blades with spear points were sold in 19th century America as “Bowies”. About all you can say is that a Bowie is a large fixed blade knife with a cross guard (of various configurations) and very likely also has a blade with a clip point.
That the clip point has been around for a long time is also indisputable. For example, the Laguiole was first produced at around the same time as the first Bowie and clip point navajas go back further than that.
All of the above notwithstanding, I don’t have any fixed blade/cross guard/clip point knives from the Philippines in my collection (about 20 all toll) that I would date to before WWII nor have I ever seen any. Does anyone have an example to show us? What I would like to know is whether the so called Philippine Bowie style knife was a native development made prior to WWII or whether it was just a marketing ploy designed to sell knives to US troops.

Sincerely,
RobT

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by RobT

That the clip point has been around for a long time is also indisputable. For example, the Laguiole was first produced at around the same time as the first Bowie and clip point navajas go back further than that.
All of the above notwithstanding, I don’t have any fixed blade/cross guard/clip point knives from the Philippines in my collection (about 20 all toll) that I would date to before WWII nor have I ever seen any. Does anyone have an example to show us?

Here you go Rob! From my collection, around 1900 (my guess), Luzon.

Regards,
Detlef

[RobT]

Sajen,

As I mentioned in my earlier post, in the US, Bowies can come with or without a clip point (many 19th century British examples have a spear point). Bowies also come with a variety of hilts and cross guard shapes but the three indispensable characteristics of a traditional Bowie in the US are large size, fixed blade, and (above all) a cross guard (with or without D-guard). Legend has it that Bowies have a cross guard because Rezin Bowie cut his hand severely when his hand slid up the blade of a knife he was using to kill a calf. Your example lacks the cross guard. I don’t have a single example of a “Philippine Bowie” in my collection that doesn’t have a cross guard. So, the question remains, is the “Philippine Bowie” as exemplified by so many WWII souvenirs a creation made especially after WWII for sale to US troops or was it an indigenous creation totally separate from US influence?

Sincerely,
RobT

[Ian]

Rob,

I feel confident that we will find Philippine examples with guards that are pre-WWII, and even pre-1900, that meet the Bowie knife characteristics you defined.

As a starter, you will find small examples with guards in this thread: http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=18769

I'll keep looking.

[RobT]

Ian,

I went to the link you provided and found six knives with cross guards. Although it has a cross guard, I don’t think anyone would consider Robert’s example (made by Castro and Son) to be in any way be consistent what would be termed a Bowie (especially the yataghan-like blade). The same can be said of your Apalit knife with a cross guard (and the 1945 date takes it out of contention anyway). Obviously, Battara’s serpentine bladed short sword with cross guard doesn’t qualify.
This leaves us with three knives for consideration. The aluminum ferrule and cross guard on Rafngard’s knife makes a WWII vintage a pretty safe bet. Rafngard’s other example (which is completely consistent with the Philippine Bowie style WWII bring back) has a brass ferrule and cross guard so it could have conceivably been made prior to WWII but, on the other hand, there is nothing about it to say that it couldn’t have been made post WWII either and Rafngard offers no opinion on age.
We are now left your N Castro blade which, like Rafngard’s brass mounted example, is exactly the type of knife I am talking about. Unlike Rafngard, you do give an age estimate and say, “Judging from the writing on this one, which is in the Art Nouveau/Art Deco style, I would guess this one dates from 1920-1930.”
As a big fan of the Art Nouveau (and a lesser fan of the Art Deco) and as a former typographer, please indulge my brief didacticism because it is important to the topic at hand. Art Nouveau is based on the curvilinear organic line and the typefaces chosen echo this (take a look at Alphonse Mucha’s advertising posters). Böcklin is the archetypical Nouveau typeface. Art Deco, on the other hand consists of geometric, machine made shapes (both straight and curved) and the type faces (usually san serif) reflect this. Compare the work of Mucha with the poster for the ocean liner Normandie by Adolphe Mouron Cassandre and you will see that the zeitgeist behind Art Nouveau is totally different from that of Art Deco. As a matter of fact, Deco was a reaction against Nouveau which was considered old fashioned.
The type on your knife is Deco. The deco period is given as 1910-ish to the 1930s but it really didn’t end there. After the Deco came Stramline Moderne (and American Streamline) which was even more spare and extended the style into the 1940s. Still not done, the Deco sensibility carried forward and was democratized (or, depending on your point of view, vulgarized) as the Nifty Fifties. A 59 caddy is as Deco as it gets.
So, based on the typeface, your blade could have been made anywhere from 1910-ish to the early 1960s.

Sincerely,
RobT

[Ian]

I'm still looking Rob.

[Ian]

Rob, this one may be more convincing. It is a Spanish-Filipino knife with a blade of triangular cross-section. There is a small bone guard tipped with brass. The tang does not extend to the end of the hilt. It may have been made in the Visayas. Being from the Spanish Colonial period in the Philippines, it would pre-date 1900.

Blade length = 8.5 in.
OAL = 12.5 in.

I'm still looking through my collection.

Ian.
.