Indonesian jambiya
 

Artzi of Oriental Arms described this as:
“This Indonesian dagger in the style of an Arab Jambiya is likely to have come from Sumatra or Mentawi islands. This style of dagger is sometimes referred to as a Beladau.”


Comments?

Guesses on whether it would have been made for a native or someone originally from Arabia?

Guesses on age?

Marcus

Hello Marcus,

I've seen this handle style by blades from the lesser Sunda islands like Lombok and Sumbawa. :shrug: I doubt that it is a Mentawai dagger.

Regards,
Detlef

Jambiyo are known in Indonesia, I have two of them, one quite small and rather rough, the other large and of fine quality.

The small one is probably from Sumatera, the large one probably from Jawa.

blades?
 

With what style of blade?

I've seen this sort of hilt with short pedang blades. I have a hilt in similar style in my collection but without blade. Will post some pictures later.

Regards,
Detlef

Here my handle, approx. 14 cm high.

blade vs hilt
 

I see the similarity in the hilt of course, but to me the interesting question is whether the jambiya-like blade is indicative of a cross cultural effect.

I recently saw a similar jambiya but I can't post the URL because its ongoing. It's completely unadorned and undecorated. The scabbard looks like someone cut a cows horn lengthwise and the hilt is likewise just a horn knob. The blade is jambiya shaped but it has no "spine".

Similar?
 

More differences than similarities in my opinion. BTW the scabbard on mine is wood.

Sumbawa
 

There is indeed a picture of a sword from Sumbawa with a similar hilt on page 135 of the Van Zonneveld book.