Copper Dagger - from where?
 

Greetings folks,

I got this copper dagger several months ago. The blade is all copper and so are the mounts. The initials "FDM" are engraved onto one side of the blade.

I have no idea where this is from and I've not seen its like before. Is it American? Filipino (1900)? European? :confused:

Any assistance is welcome.

It is often difficult to distinguish between daggers from French Indochina and the Philippines.

Going by what I have seen here on this site, it's Philippine and specifically for use against supernatural threats.

I'd be quite interested in knowing more about the occult uses of these non-ferrous daggers. This one is brass.

There is a widespread belief among many peoples of Southeast Asia that objects that do not have destructive power among people have it in the world of spirits. For example, daggers with a specially blunted blade.

Hi Jose,

I also think your knife is from the Philippines--Central or Northern Luzon. Rick's is a bit harder to place given the hilt style, but could also be from the Philippines. Apart from a non-specific "spiritual purpose," I don't have anything to contribute. Sorry.

Ian

Hello Jose,
Another vote for Philippines and Luzon. :)

The one from Rick is from Batangas I guess, see this thread: http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ghlight=copper

Regards,
Detlef

those nonferrous bladed knives are a cultural thing among malayian cultures though out south east asia.. its for "fighting spirits" ive seen people in the 21st century carrying small brass, copper or sliver kris around rolled up in their sarongs to protect from bad magic . ect

I've noticed that people in North America wear articles of clothing impregnated with copper wire, and copper bracelets, to rid themselves of pain demons in their joints, or to ward off same.

Apparently the groups involved are more primitive than the bulk of the population, as they can only obtain these articles by watching late-night broadcast TV.

Hi Bob! It is for this reason that I do not want to dive into details :D

Thank you folks. I'll land on Luzon, but musty admit that I haven't seen a copper knife like this from the Philippines, or any PI knife like this.

However, I agree with the copper being used to dispel evil spirits.

I got this hoping that it might still be Filipino, but knowing the risk it might not. Now to figure out the meaning of "FDM"..........

The blade profile is similar to the Applegate-Fairbairn fighting knife developed in WWII, though the hilt is different.

If I had to choose between American, European and Philippine origin, I'd strongly favor Philippines.

Africa is a known source for copper weapons, but they seldom if ever emulate Western military blades.

Hello Jose,
Remember the great copper and brass dagger collection from Robert. ;)

Regards,
Detlef

And here: http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ghlight=copper you can find a lot of information about non ferric daggers from the Philippines.:)

Thank you Detlef for the links. What threw me for a loop was the hilt: 1. how it was scored, 2. how the cross guard is made in the form of an "X" (though one could argue that it fits Philippine thinking), 3. how the mounts were made, 4. how badly beaten up the blade was. None of the examples I have seen (even on our site) matched this. However, I am aware that the Philippines, places in Indonesia, and Malaysia used copper blades for chasing away evil spirits. So again I took the chance that this is indeed a Filipino blade.

Almost nothing is documented on these except what Robert was fortunate to acquire.

i have several small brass, nickle and silver bolos, kampilan and kris from the phillipines.. from several different regions.. some of the ones from sulu have arabic inscriptions on them to ward of evil sprits.. its definatly a thing.. ive met people in the 21st century in indonesia carrying such little "magic" knvies around in their sarongs.... they sure have declined in popularity and maybe even vanished in amny malayian peopls societies in the 20th century.. but they were probably once universal..

In this thread Bangkaya states that copper and brass were used to fight aswang spirits.

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...309#post266309

More of the mystery solved.:D