At long last, Garabs!

[kai]

Hello Leif,

19th cent. (maybe earlier) - early 20th Cent.
Usually better quality blades, a thumb rest, and often an eye on the scabbard.

The wood quality may also be an indicator: While there may have been some examples of lesser, "village" quality, all complete, genuine old-timers seem to come with scabbards made from high-quality wood and hilts from different types of hardwood, too. After possibly the Span.-Am. war, the wood quality seems to deteriorate quite quickly. As suggested by Ian, there may be regional (or urban vs. remote areas) differences, too.

I'm also not sure whether the thumb rest is an essential feature of mid-19th c. (and earlier) pieces. Nor how long this feature was being made...

At least one shows signs of lamination.

The longer one most likely has an inserted edge (actually, both probably do).

The smaller one has some robe and red thread on the scabbard. I'm not sure if these are original or not. I'd guess the rope is, the red thread less so (though the seller thought it a sign of Bogobo ownership).

The rope looks used but not terribly old; the red thread may be fairly recent replacement.


While the fittings do look younger, I would not be surprised if both blades were 19th century examples.

Regards,
Kai