Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

tom hyle · 19th March 2011, 04:19 AM

I am not inclined to consider this a cockatoo style hilt, but rather that, especially in conjuction with the sheath, it represents a fish head. I don't know how it related to biology/what specie, but in SEAsian art, particularly cutlery handles, fish/dragons are represented with a long fin/crest on their head. I have a Visayan bowie with such a pommel (much more explicitly animal than this one). Remember a knife we saw a few weeks (? I often do not track time normally ?) from Indonesia/Malay-sia with a brass hilt and a fish head pommel with such a fin/crest, also perhaps seen on kastane?.....

19th March 2011, 04:19 AM	#7
tom hyle Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Houston, TX, USA Posts: 1,254	I am not inclined to consider this a cockatoo style hilt, but rather that, especially in conjuction with the sheath, it represents a fish head. I don't know how it related to biology/what specie, but in SEAsian art, particularly cutlery handles, fish/dragons are represented with a long fin/crest on their head. I have a Visayan bowie with such a pommel (much more explicitly animal than this one). Remember a knife we saw a few weeks (? I often do not track time normally ?) from Indonesia/Malay-sia with a brass hilt and a fish head pommel with such a fin/crest, also perhaps seen on kastane?.....