Horn & Silver: a cross-cultural "Go on... show us" thread.
 

Browsing through backlogs of this fine forum and through old online auctions, I found that what struck me most as particularly attractive was the stark contrast that Horn hilts have against Silver fittings.

Then the idea stuck in my head to start this thread. I've seen a lot of Horn-Silver combinations from southeast asia all the way to europe and the Middle East. I thought "Why not ask everyone at EAA to showcase what they have?"

I figure if it's worked well with specific weapons, a theme that would cross cultures could certainly be interesting.

So go on... Show us your blades with Horn & Silver fittings!

I'll start: Here's a nice, old Philippine (Luzon) piece for your viewing pleasure.

What a nice piece with a long blade! Like the silver work.

Here are my 2 pieces:

The first is Tagalog and may be Katipunan (Philippines).

The second is Tejeros Convention (Philippines) and an officer's dagger.

Jose, do you still have that Lumad piece that had a horn hilt? i forget if it was yours or if you did restoration work on it. I think you redid the silver on the sheath? In any case, that one was a beautiful horn-silver combo.


Anyone got any indo-persian or Middle eastern examples?

A few Middle Eastern Jambiya with horn (sadly not rhino) and silver hilts.
Hope this is of interest.
Regards Stu

Hi,
Horn and silver on a Yataghan of mine. Hope this fits the bill.
Regards,
Norman.

Beautiful pieces, gentlemen. Keep 'em coming!

Three silver fitted Philippine ( Luzon) daggers with horn grips and a shadrigan bladed barong.

I love this type of combination,mainly in Pieces from Philippines. These are 2 of my collection. A dagger and a bolo.
I,m sure this post will be perfect to see in the future to be more happy!!
best regards
carlos

A sewar from Indonesia/Sumatra, handle and crosspiece of the sheath from horn with silver fittings.

Regards,

Detlef

A couple of my favorites.
Steve

Here is one of my wife's gaucho knives ..

Here is mine :)

A kothimora kukri, the silver-mounted scabbard complemented by a hilt of water buffalo horn, studded with silver pins and encircled by rings of silver.

A horn hilted alamang with silver sleeves at the handle and at the sheath.

Berkely nice to see you again. Great kothimora! love the silver pins!

Sajen never saw an alamang with silver like that before.

horn and silver, from the three main islands:
dagger from luzon
binangon from visayas
gasah and kalis from mindanao (sulu)

Wow! :eek:

I've heard this twice now -- The older form "pira" is colloquially known among Yakan today as Gasa? It's nice to know that there is a distinction rather than "Pira" and "Older-form pira". Thank for sharing, ron!

What's the story behind the Brass-bladed Luzon dagger? I only know anectodal reasons behind why these were made (Brass and copper being the only thing that can harm or ward off evil spirits), but aside from hearsay among my titos I don't know the actual reason why (Practical or religious/superstitious)

That Sulu kris is great as well (Actually, All of those are pretty great!) . I have a Sulu piece coming to me (When the payments clear) with a similar hilt, albeit newer than the blade.

I have yet to hold it in-hand but I cannot wait till I can. I actually think this one was discussed in these forums a while back before I became its owner. Check it out:

The blade remains a mystery, dave. Like you, i've heard growing up that brass or copper tends to lean towards the supernatural.
So that's where the kalis went! Congrats on snagging that one! I was contemplating on that one as well, but it came out at the wrong time, lol...

Sold some of my collection to pay for it (and am still making payments) but it is a piece that I think is well worth it. The older form half waves are my favourite, and like I said in the opening post, I find horn and silver fittings particularly beautiful. To be its current caretaker (can you really own something that will outlive you? I think not) is a priviledge.

I'm sure most of you feel the same way about your pieces. Why else would we obsess over them? :shrug:

Here is a small Kris dagger I picked up last year with silver and horn.

Sweet dagger Lew. :)
Steve

Beautiful examples, everyone!

Any more Middle Eastern pieces? I am very interested!

Hi
here are the closeups of my two yataghan.
Paolo

And here other from Archipelago and Philippine.
Paolo

The last one from Burma.

Very nice pieces Paolo! :)

This thread should be attached to the Classic Threads!

Yep!

Absolutely beautiful, gentlemen!

It's veryinteresting to see Horn being used on all these different blades. the Yataghans in particular are of particular interest to me as I have the least experience with/knowledge of them.

Ha, found this old thread from back in the day when we weren't afraid to have a little fun around here :) ! Let's get it going again!