your opnion is requested....

[ausjulius]

Originally Posted by gp

won this nice looking knife, although it has some serious oxidation on the blade. Looking forward to its arrival and will have to clean it carefully but thoroughly though

Details of its description :

Old ceremonial knfie from Tibet
mid 20th century
blade: 9,3 cm, grip 8,1 cm.
scabbard 14,5 x 2,7 x 2 cm.

your thoughts please; is the description OK, is it a Tibetan Kampa knife ..?
Is the age correct ? Any other remarks?

Thank you very much!

Gunar

Not ceremonial. It's a utility knife form the no.ads around lake kokonor. Take a photo of the back of the blade . These are usually quite thick but not always. Also many have an asymmetrical grind on the blade.
They are not Tibetan as such a by a mix of Tibetan and mongolic knives as that's where the two groups meet. Many of the makers of these knives or of their blades and from the tiny Muslim hybrid ethnic group the Bonan. As they migrate through this area working as blacksmiths. There is a cultural band descending from the arctic down into Mongolia and all the way to Tibet there assymetrical grinding on blades is popular.
This area around lake kokonor is it's extent after that area the typically slightly convex symmetrical blade grind will appear. And if you go further west Persian influenced knives appear among the Uyghurs.. anyway these days in that area most blacksmiths making knives are bonan. Once they were mostly Tibetans or Mongols. But the bonan are just very active in blacksmithing and retail trade of these goods.
The asymmetric grinds on many of these are used to scrape and shave materials.
It's hard to see if yours has an asymmetrical grind on the blade or not. But it is common.
Some.of these knives are very thick. I have a recently made one without a sheath that's about 10mm thick. But others have a more regular Tibetan blade dimension
.
Anyway until very recently it was common to see people wearing these on their belts
And still today you'll see nomads wearing them .