I bought it but what is it??
 

As everyone already knows I collect almost exclusively Philippine weapons so this is quite a departure from that. I bought this item on a whim because I liked how it was made from an old file or rasp. The hilt is made from nickel silver with two copper bands and the wooden scabbard is covered with nickel silver. The blade is engraved on one side only and there appears to be some engraving on the hilt also. As far as I know this could very possibly be just another tourist item. I have not received this yet so here are the pictures from the auction. Any and all help on when and where this was made will be greatly appreciated.

Robert

Greek?

Some kind of funky Bichaq perhaps ?

It is a Greek/balkan knife from arround 1900.

Ariel, Rick and Eftihis,
Thank you all for your responces to this post. So this is a Greek knife. :cool: Can anyone tell me if this is a working knife or if it was one made for those who travel? :confused: Thank you all again for your help.

Robert

I don't know anything about these knives per se, but it dies seem to have been made from an old file. I may be wrong about this, but that kind of source material seems to be the kind of thing that someone uses to make a knife for themselves more than for sale to a tourist market. :shrug:

While I don't dispute the Greek attribution, the sheath (apart from the little ferrule at the tip) is very much like that of Bosnian bichaqs, even down to the narrow zig-zag decoration. I guess form follows function.

Again I would like to thank everyone that has responded to this post so far. Like I stated earlier, I bought this on a whim just because I liked the way it looked and I am very happy to hear that it is not a tourist item. Again my thank.

Robert

Well, the knife has arrived and is very well constructed. The blade though it does not show any signs of recent sharpening is still extremely sharp. :eek: I will post the measurements later with a few new pictures but right now I would like to ask a question that I know has already been ask countless times. Should I do a light polish to the grip and scabbard on this piece or just leave it as it is? Again my thanks for the identification of this item and for the hope that it was made to be used and not just made for "those who travel".

Robert

Maybe leaving it as it is ? :o
Fernando

I think it looks like a nice knife, and if it were mine, I'd give it a polish. :D

Hi, guys, look what i found in my closet!
I think both knifes made by the same guy. (see the design on the scabbard)
While there is no doubt in my mind that the knife Robert bought was made for real use, it is funny to see that sometimes the boundaries between "made for use" and "made for those who travell" is very thin!
Even more interesting is that the words "campaign d' orient" was definitely written by the maker, because it obviously added in the appeal of the item at that time.

Eftihis, Thank you for posting the picture of your knife. The similarity in design is quite amazing!! The design at the throat of yours is very similar to mine and could easily have been done be by the same maker. The main difference that I see is that yours does not have a design on the scabbard tip. I have taken the liberty to post both pictures together to show the similarity. I hope that you do not mind.

Robert