Is this a woman's dagger

[Ian]

Alan,

You have an extremely acute eye! The cross-section of the hilt and upper scabbard are very slightly ovoid. So slight is the deviation from cylindrical, I had to get out the calipers and measure the diameter in two directions--the difference was barely 1–2 mm! Towards the toe of the scabbard it does become circular, with virtually identical diameters in two directions.

Thanks again for the additional information.

This was one of nearly 100 items retained by the Australian Border Force after I declared my entire collection of edged weapons on arriving in Australia from the USA. It was returned, along with the other retained items, after I obtained the relevant police permit in Victoria. Permitted items need to be stored securely, in the same way as firearms in Australia.

I purchased this tombak in 2001.

Ian.