Two piha kaetta knives
 

Hello dear members,

I wanted to show you these two Piha kaetta knives,
( they were sold in an auction house as kukris, really low initial price ...)

Sold as a pair but they are not similar,
Elegant but simple decorations, ( Ivory hilt I guess)

have they the same age ?
They looks pretty old but maybe it's because the steel blades were not well preserved !

I like these black heavy blades ,
but I read that blackened blade match with a not good quality steel ??

Sadly no scabbard,
but I think the knives are complete,
no loss of brass, silver parts on the blade...

What do you think ?

Kind regards

Hello,

I agree with ivory as material of the hilts and would put both in the 19th century. But maybe here are better experts for this knives. Of course I can only speculate if they have a similar age but they are looking so (same style and same signs of age).
I have such a knife, too, but with a black coral handle and more "accessoires". Maybe the blades of your Piha Kaettas had a similar inlay in the fullers like my knife has but it was lost:

Yep, 19th century. Both similar age.

These are rather simple examples as they usually have a more decorated blade and front bolster (more like the example of Gonzoadler).

Hello,
Thank you both for you message
and Congratulations GonzoAdler for your exquisite model !!!!

For the ''simple'' examples,
in opposition with rich embellishment models,
I wonder if it's more a question about period of fabrication/''fashion''
or only the price the owner was ok to pay for it.

Strange for me too:
They were often used as betel knife and sometimes as work tools
how could these models be made with precious materials and so sophisticated if destinated for an ''everyday ''use

Maybe they had enough elephants? :D

And no Cites ! ;)

Technically, though it is still possibly correct to refer to what you display here as a piha kaetta, yours, with it's straighter blade and addition of a stylus, is more correctly referred to as a "ul pihiya". They are generally a bit smaller than the piha kaetta which features a drop point blade and is usually a bit larger. I suspect that these ul pihiya served a someone different purpose that may have been clerical in some regard (ergo the stylus).

Thank you for this interesting detail, I didn't knew that.
It is really unlikely that my knife was used as working tool, the condition is too good and the hilt is fragile.
Regards


Edit: I think this thread regarding the types of Piha Kaettas is very interesting:
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=8431