A slightly unique Piha Kaetta

[fernando]

Hi Derek,
I once saw this in a 1989 auction catalogue.
This could be a lot of nonsense, but please take a look to it..

Please pay particular attention to the ( translated ) text on item 892.

888 is dated XVII-XVIII century. Chizeled metal grip.

889 is dated XVII-XVIII century. Rhino horn grip. Silver and brass insets. Rare.

890 is also dated XVII-XVIII century.Rhino horn grip with characteristic braking waves sculpted, a sign of Cingalo-Portuguese art. With unvulgar chizeled silver and brass insets.

891. specimen of unvulgar configuration. The grip pommel is a "goruda", identical to those sculpted in Cingalo-Portuguese firearms. Silver insets and brass sculpture. Very good quality and very rare.

892 Cingalese Pia-Kaetas descend from an Arian Indo-European race weapon of the second milenium BC, that has also being used in Portuguese territory: the famous Lusitanian Falcata. The most distant extremes of the Arian race were precisely Lusitania and Ceylon. It is curious that these two peoples, descent from the same ancestors, would meet again thousands of years afterwards. As life in an isolated island remains unchanged for vast periods of time, the use of these "Falcata like"
knives prevailed in Ceylon until recent centuries. The presented specimen has its ivory grip decorated with the typical braking waves, which can also be found in Cingalo-Portuguese sculptures. These waves can be seen in the hair of an ivory Little Jesus sculpture of the XVI-XVII century, also present in this auction.Silver and brass insets. With original scabbard.Rare.