Questions About a Curious Kukri

[Conogre]

The kopis, I believe, is based primarily upon ancient artwork, with very few surviving into the present, if any at all.
In this particular piece, it's so blade heavy that it's almost painful to the wrist to try and wield it with one hand, much like most of the "ceremonial kukris" that I've seen, to the point that I've only encountered one with a hilt large enough for a two-handed grip and yet still thin and balanced enough to be utilized with one hand if need be.
This particular kopis, to me, is only practical if it's primarily wielded much like a great sword, with one hand on the hilt and the other on the ricasso, in which case it has some very real and interesting possibilities but ends up being used very differently than you would expect out of necessity.
It's my understanding that an original out of bronze may have been even heavier, thus would likely have been deeply fullered, the reason for the attached side pieces, purely ornamental on one made of steel and serving no purpose except to add weight.
The falcata, on the other hand, has a really good "feel" to it and I can see where it may have given the Romans some real pause when wielded by an enemy, primarily in the hands of the Spanish, if I understand correctly.
Mike

[tom hyle]

Generally reproductions of kopsh are overly large. Yours in particular appears to be on the wide side. There are surviving examples, and I have seen photographs of at least two, in books.
The falcatta/copis/machaira was a pretty widespread sword; used by Celts, Latins, and steppes tribes; pretty much throughout a broad band norh of the Med. I am personally attracted to the idea that it is originally a Caucasian or Central Asian sword derived of sickles, and not especially closely related to kopsh, despite the sharing of name, which seems derived of the fighting broadaxe of the Eastern Mediterranean region.

[spiral]

Thats a nice, what appears to be post 1945 sirupate from eastern Nepal Conegre. {The sword forum article has some good photos of comparison of blade shapes...{ http://swordforum.com/articles/ams/tradkukri.php } But says western Nepal, for sirupate origins. which is is tottaly innacurate as are many other statements in that article.

Sirupate are from eastern Nepal, made by the Limbu tribe mainly.

Nepal was closed to most westerners till the 60s & traditional crafts lasted a long time.

Heres a similar one at Tora kukri forum from early ww2 , hence the shorter bolster. { http://www.toratoratora.co.uk/forum/...p?TID=357&PN=1 }

A search there should provide you with lots of info.

Yours appears somewhat tired, unfortuanatly, {IMHO} as the Ninhonto enthusiasts would say judging from the amount of stamped ingraving actualy left visible, buy always nice to find an authentic used Nepali village kuk. Unless it was stamped in a very faint manner?

There are some great ones turn up. Hope you find some others you like.

Intrestingly similar to the falcata/kopis many kukri reproductions such as those made by Himalayen imports without any distal taper are massivly over heavy compared to balenced original , antique & military models.

regards,
Spiral

[sirupate]

Hello Mike,

Thats a nice old Sirupate from Eastern Nepal and definatley not of the Hanshee type.
Probably the reason why the Kopis (first came about around 500BC and was made of iron) is often associated with the kukri, is that the there is a theory that when Alexander the Great defeated the the Indians in Punjab (then Northern India) at the battle of Hydaspes in 326 BC, the Indians took the design from the Kopis that many of the Macedonian/Greek cavalry and Hoplites used in that period.
Also many mercenarie troops for the Greeks used the Kopis as well, such as the Dii tribesman (modern Bulgaria) and the Etruscians (N.Italy, whose alphabet is based on the Greek alphabet, due to the heavy Greek colanisation of that area). Another possible name for the Kopis that you might hear of is the Machaira, which in Greek refers to Knife types where as the the word Kopis (pronounced Gopis) refers to clever type weapons and is a more acurate termonolgy.
Spiral that is a nice Villager from Nepal and very well made with a good weight
I completly agree with your comments about getting correctley made Modern kukri from Nepal, unlike the ones below which are pretty much spot on;



As you say, most of the suppliers have incorrect weight proportions to the Kukri, suffer from cho creep and as you say have very thick spines without the any of the tapering ETC which would give the kukri the correct balance and so on

Cheers Simon

[tom hyle]

As mentioned, this piece has has considerable after-market polishing, which, in conjunction with the comparitively pristine look of the bolster/ferule suggests this may not be the original hilt, or at least that it may have been dehilted for polishing; the currently established surface seems to go right in to the handle. however, it is not possible for a kukuri to become "tired" in its surface in the same manner as a Japanese sword, as it does not have the distinct skin layer whose removal, along with grain opening from too much etching, constitutes tiredness.
The decoration was not stamped. It was hand chiselled/graven stroke by stroke. You can see the cuts start and end.

[Ferguson]

Beautiful pieces Simon. I particularly like the tin chirra.

Steve

[sirupate]

Hello Steve,

Thanks The Tin Chirra is my favoured Martial Blade, very nice to handle and the MKI (Bottom) is one of my favoured users.

Cheers Simon

[tom hyle]

BTW, an interesting idea of certainty regarding the term machaira seems to have entered the market place of ideas and I'm curious to know how; in my youth I remember reading in the official type histories (for what they're worth) that, as with many ancient weapon terms, it was not known precisely what object machaira referred to, but only that it was a cutting hilt weapon (ie. sword); some said it had no thrusting point, though this seems to be a commonly developed falsehood about swords primarily for cutting (ex nihon-to) double edged leaf swords were considered to be in the running..... Perhaps this was one of the many errors of isolationistic N American Nationalist science; I don't know; certainly most of the work comming out of the steppes was sneered away and ignored as supposedly politically driven "Communist science" in USA until quite recently. I'm also curious as to whether the term was used to refer to tools (knives) in the ancient days, or only to weapons; I've only encountered it (anciently) as a weapon term, but then I've only encountered it when reading about weapons.

[sirupate]

Hello Tom,

From what I can gather, it may well be that the word Machaira is another word adopted in Italy etc for the Kopis, possibly due to the Greek conalisation of N.Italy.

Cheers Simon