CharlesS

Here is a unique set of double knives from SE Asia, likely Thailand or Burma. At first glance, it's very tempting to label them as badeks/badiks, but the blade profiles are far more Thai or Burmese than Indonesian. The hilts are hardwood.

While some of these double knives always seem to stir up the collector's love of the unique, I don't think they were ever intended as combat weapons. I would suggest that they are martial arts weapons or perhaps even very early tourist pieces, which makes them no less interesting.

Comments welcomed.

Dimensions:
Overall length: 13in.
Blade length: 8.75in.
Blades' widest point: just over 1.5in.

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Battara

Well this is a new one on me........

mariusgmioc

I would still go for Indonesian or maybe Malaysian, 20th century...

Not tourist but more likely an expression of the creativity of a local smith.

Very interesting! Thank you!

kronckew

The above are badik-like but aren't. They are Thai.

Similar "krich cab pun phk" or "มีดด้ามปืนพก" knives are commonly found in Thailand, old and newly made...Note the decorations

See also: http://www.arscives.com/historystee...ationmusbkk.htm

Has some interesting weapons photos, include some of these "pistol grip knives".

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kronckew

For comparison, an Indonesian badek with a pamour blade:

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CharlesS

Likely from the same source as kronckew....Here are two images from the National Museum in Bangkok. There are two similarly hilted examples, but unfortunately, the blades are not shown. The hilts here are more akin to Indonesian types. The name for these in Thai is มีดด้ามปืนพก or krich cab pun phk, meaning quite literally "pistol grip knife".

The third pic shows another example much more like the original examples shown.

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kai

Thanks for the additional pics, folks!

We have to keep in mind that not everything coming out of Thailand (much less being displayed in a Thai museum) needs to be Thai from an ethnographic perspective. Aside from diplomatic gifts or spoils of war showing up in any royal armory, traditional pieces from the southern regions historically inhabited by (mainly) Malays are, of course, culturally Malay rather than Thai. In addition, just about any commercially important town has at least one but usually several "Chinese" expat communities.

Like Charles mentioned, the 2 armory pieces may well be of Malay/Indo origin.

The other examples seem to exhibit blades of Thai production or at least style while the hilts more or less try to keep some traditional features.

The hilts of Charles double set do strike me as a bit more off the mark. I wouldn't be surprised if this set was a bit later and possibly crafted locally for someone of southern Chinese descent (possibly for selling).

Regards,
Kai