WHAT DID I JUST BUY?? and Happy Easter for those who celebrate it.

[Battara]

I would say it was later Tibetan or later Bhutanese.

Happy Easter!

[David]

I bought something very similar last Thanksgiving. Here is the link to the thread about it:
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=5669

[kahnjar1]

Originally Posted by David

I bought something very similar last Thanksgiving. Here is the link to the thread about it:
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=5669

Thanks for the thoughts, and after seeing that link, I am wondering what the scabbard is actually made of! There is obviously some sort of corrosion on it so am really keen to investigate!!
Will post better pics when it arrives.

[ZhenjieWu]

I thinks this is probably a dagger widely used in North West of China, whose name is "Bao An" dao (Bao An is the name of one minority of China).

[josh stout]

Originally Posted by ZhenjieWu

I thinks this is probably a dagger widely used in North West of China, whose name is "Bao An" dao (Bao An is the name of one minority of China).

Please tell me more about the Bao An people and their weapons if you can. A friend of mine found me a knife like this in Qinghai province in 1993 while pretending to be an ethnic Moslem to escape travel restrictions on westerners. I understood the knife to be made by ethnic Tibetans. In general, the layered pattern of metals and horn in the handle and pommel is quite similar to Eastern Tibetan styles such as this one:

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j6...E5AEB600-1.jpg

Are the Bao An ethnic Tibetans, or are they a separate ethnic group, perhaps like the Yi with a Tibetan influence?
Thanks,
Josh

[David]

Good questions Josh. If you look in the thread linked to my example you will see that Ausjulius also mentions the Baoan.
"...the knife in the pick ,, looks to be baoan ... a moslem mongolian ethnic group from china..
language and culture is mixed between uzbek and mongols.. and some others"
Since i also own one of these i am equally interested in nailing down it's cultural origins. More than one source have also put these forth as Tibetan so the answer isn't at all clear to me at this point. They are nice little knives regardless, but i would still like to find a definitive answer on whose nice little knives they are.

[derek]

Hi,

These are usually described as (Tibetan) Khampa work knives: wiki on the Kham region/people.

They usually have a bit of ray skin below the throat.

[ZhenjieWu]

Originally Posted by josh stout

Please tell me more about the Bao An people and their weapons if you can. http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j6...E5AEB600-1.jpg

Are the Bao An ethnic Tibetans, or are they a separate ethnic group, perhaps like the Yi with a Tibetan influence?
Thanks,
Josh

JOSH
The formal name of Bao An people is Bonan ethnic minority group, whose home is mainly at the foot of JiShi mountain, almost at the boundary of GanSu and QingHai province . The population of Bonan ethnic minority group is about 16,505. Their local language belong to Mongolian Austronesian. Their religion is Islam. In China, Bonan ethnic minority group is famous for their man-made knives-Bonan Dao.
I will post some typical pictures of Bonan Dao and Tibetan Dao.

ZhenJie Wu

[ZhenjieWu]

Knives of Bonan ethnic minority group

[josh stout]

Originally Posted by ZhenjieWu

JOSH
The formal name of Bao An people is Bonan ethnic minority group, whose home is mainly at the foot of JiShi mountain, almost at the boundary of GanSu and QingHai province . The population of Bonan ethnic minority group is about 16,505. Their local language belong to Mongolian Austronesian. Their religion is Islam. In China, Bonan ethnic minority group is famous for their man-made knives-Bonan Dao.
I will post some typical pictures of Bonan Dao and Tibetan Dao.

ZhenJie Wu

Well it wasn't my knife that started the discussion, but the Bonan knives you posted look just like the one I have, including the engraving of the hand on the blade of one of them. Thank you for helping to identify this distinct style. The long dao I posted is certainly of the Eastern Tibetan style and comes from the same region. I think more and more things are coming out of QingHai and the Gansu border region. It is fascinating to see the confluence of Tibetan, Mongolian, and ethnic styles. The Yi things you posted are almost certainly from approximately the same region. (the second one you posted belonged to a friend of mine, I love how small the collecting world is.) The Tibetan long dao from that region show similarities to the weapons of the other regional ethnic groups in the copper/brass work, and in the lack of a guard on many of the long dao.

(http://s77.photobucket.com/albums/j6...rrent=01-3.jpg

and

http://s77.photobucket.com/albums/j6...ation383-1.jpg).

Others that do have a guard seem to use more bone and horn than Tibetan things from further west

(http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j65/pekhopai/10.jpg

and see the one I already posted on this thread).

One thing I have noticed is that the folding seems more refined than the usual bold lines of Tibetan hairpin construction.

(http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j6...duation388.jpg)

(http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j65/pekhopai/07.jpg)

Notice how on this second one each dark line is actually made of many separate folds.

However, the Yi things I have seen, and the one I have, show stronger lines typical of Tibetan things from further west.

(http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j6...duation374.jpg)

(http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j6...duation375.jpg)

I suspect that the Yi may have traded for their blades.

Thanks again for the extremely informative posts. I am beginning to get the sense of a regional style shared by several peoples each with their own characteristics. This is ethnographic weapons at its best!
Josh

[ZhenjieWu]

Originally Posted by josh stout

A friend of mine found me a knife like this in Qinghai province in 1993 while pretending to be an ethnic Moslem to escape travel restrictions on westerners. I understood the knife to be made by ethnic Tibetans. In general, the layered pattern of metals and horn in the handle and pommel is quite similar to Eastern Tibetan styles such as this one:

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j6...E5AEB600-1.jpg

Are the Bao An ethnic Tibetans, or are they a separate ethnic group, perhaps like the Yi with a Tibetan influence?
Thanks,
Josh

I will post some Tibetan Dao or dagger. See if they can help you. My opinion is the dao you post is a Tibetan dao, although it's not the normal style.










ZhenJie Wu

[ZhenjieWu]

When I see this picture, I am not sure about origin of Josh's knife anymore.


This is a Tibetan knife for sure.

ZhenJie Wu

[Battara]

Originally Posted by kahnjar1

I am wondering what the scabbard is actually made of!

Just based on these pctures alone, it looks like there is brass, white metal, and horn.

[kahnjar1]

It is on the way so will post better pics when it arrives. Should have it tomorrow or next day.
Stuart