ID on dagger ?

[delor]

I notice that one side of the blade is "raw". You still can see all the surface asperities caused by the forging process. This is fashionable these days, but it wasn't in the ancient times. So it must be a rather common working knife and the one who did it didn't pay much attention to the aesthetics aspects.
There are some bends on the edge and the tip. I may be wrong but it doesn't seem to me to be made of a good quality steel. This leads me to the same conclusion : must have been a rather "common" knife. Could also be some tourist craft.

[Gavin Nugent]

Originally Posted by delor

I notice that one side of the blade is "raw". You still can see all the surface asperities caused by the forging process. This is fashionable these days, but it wasn't in the ancient times. So it must be a rather common working knife and the one who did it didn't pay much attention to the aesthetics aspects.
There are some bends on the edge and the tip. I may be wrong but it doesn't seem to me to be made of a good quality steel. This leads me to the same conclusion : must have been a rather "common" knife. Could also be some tourist craft.

My thoughts too Delor as this is the 4th of this style I have seen in the last few years...I know Bonhams listed one a while back too....

Gav

[A.alnakkas]

Hello All,

I dont think has any relation to north African knives. The Bu Saadi knives are defined mainly by the blade which is generally decorated with brass and colours. The scabbard is different aswell.

I think it looks more like asian items as Emanuel said!

[Gavin Nugent]

North Africa is a big place;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Africa

[Emanuel]

My apologies for uploading pictures from Google Images without visiting the website of those images indexed by Google to ask their copyright owner permission to use them on a public forum.

[Gavin Nugent]

Originally Posted by Emanuel

My apologies for uploading pictures from Google Images without visiting the website of those images indexed by Google to ask their copyright owner permission to use them on a public forum.

Tis ok, thank you

[thinreadline]

Originally Posted by A.alnakkas

Hello All,

I dont think has any relation to north African knives. The Bu Saadi knives are defined mainly by the blade which is generally decorated with brass and colours. The scabbard is different aswell.

I think it looks more like asian items as Emanuel said!

Yes . The decorative motifs seem to be remarkably much like the Afghani knife you have recently posted on the 'Choora' thread.

[hbhansen]

I just found one more feature, that I missed in the first place.... This is only on the stamped side of the blade...

[spiral]

That features a rivet, the bolster isnt truly integral, ill post a kukri & some Karda in a few days that show some very similar features.

I think its NWF to Veitnam on horzontal travel, Southern China to southern Burma or Thailand on the vertical.

My real guess is Bengal/Assam/ Northen Burma....... small diameter ivory is Common , steel is at a preimium.

But nothing that makes the fat lady sing.....

Spiral

[Richard G]

Thank you, Ibrahim and Jim, for your welcoming replies to my previous post.

This may put the cat amongst the pigeons. The materials, construction and decorative motifs are all the same as Henrik's original dagger, but the style certainly isn't. I don't know where it's from either, my gut feeling is Nepal or Afghanistan. I suspect the stamps on the blade will be the feature that will eventually identify the origin. To me they seem very distinctive, and very, very, heavily struck. I wonder if anyone has seen them on any other metalwork. BTW, this is a hefty piece, 17" long overall.

I seem to remember something similar once being described in an auction catalogue as Swahili Arab, but I can't remember any evidence for this.

I thought my previous photo's s bit OTT so I've tried to scale these back a bit.

Regards
Richard

[hbhansen]

Originally Posted by delor

I notice that one side of the blade is "raw". You still can see all the surface asperities caused by the forging process. This is fashionable these days, but it wasn't in the ancient times. So it must be a rather common working knife and the one who did it didn't pay much attention to the aesthetics aspects.
There are some bends on the edge and the tip. I may be wrong but it doesn't seem to me to be made of a good quality steel. This leads me to the same conclusion : must have been a rather "common" knife. Could also be some tourist craft.

When I hold the knife, i'm quite sure it's not a tourist's knife, it feels well made, solid and just to good for that purpose.
Today I reshaped one of the bends on the blade. It doesn't feel soft, IMO medium.
Best
Henrik

[Gavin Nugent]

Originally Posted by hbhansen

When I hold the knife, i'm quite sure it's not a tourist's knife, it feels well made, solid and just to good for that purpose.
Today I reshaped one of the bends on the blade. It doesn't feel soft, IMO medium.
Best
Henrik

I don't think "tourist" is correct either. These are of a type, to me eye colonialist influenced solid utility knives...origins unknown