Pangasinan dagger--"Port Sual"

[Ian]

Came across this interesting dagger on the internet here. It is an Ilokano style knife with the name "Port Sual" carved into the hilt. Port Sual is a shipping port located on the Pangasinan Gulf, about 25 km from the knife making center of Calasiao. The dagger appears to be an early- to mid-20th C knife. It is unusual to find knives that can be attributed specifically to Pangasinan Province.

The dagger is a simple style and resembles other Ilokano daggers with a stiletto blade, horn or wooden hilt, brass ferrules, and brass guard. It comes with a plain leather sheath. In appearance, it would be difficult to distinguish it from similar knives coming from Ilocos Sur, Pampangas, or in the past from Bulacan. However, the "Port Sual" reference suggests it was made locally in Pangasinan, most likely in nearby Calasiao.

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[shayde78]

Ian,

Not a ton of detail included in the photo from Atkinson, but it shares some similarities to this piece discussed on another thread. I figured I'd cross link to see if insights about the item you posted may have a bearing in identifying an origin for mine. Hope you don't mind

[Ian]

Hi shayde78,

I agree with you. There are similarities, and I have thought your dagger was in the Ilokano style also. You may notice in post #34 of the thread you linked to that I showed a small dagger of similar profile to your blade and that one is an Ilokano-based style also which I referenced to Northern/Central Luzon. I think the dagger I showed in your thread is likely from Pampanga because the style is a common one brought back by U.S. servicemen, and Pampanga (notably Apalit) seems to have been a frequent source for these particular knives. However, I could not rule out Pangasinan Province, or even Bulacan Province which had a prominent knife industry pre-WWII.

There is debate among Filipino groups about how these knives should be designated. Natives of Pampanga say that the knives produced there are of local design and have nothing to do with the Ilokano's knives. Others believe that the styles were largely brought by the Ilokanos to the more southern provinces. I really don't have a dog in this fight about ownership. However, I do note that there has been substantial migration of Ilokanos (who are the second largest ethnic group in the Philippines after the Tagalogs) southward into the Central Luzon provinces, and indeed throughout the Philippines. They make up a sizeable fraction of the populations in Pangasinan, Pampangas, Bulacan, and neighboring provinces. A major migration southwards in the 19th C means that their presence has been substantial for at least 150 years.

Historically, Ilokanos have been excellent metal workers, and they feature brass prominently on their weapons, especially ferrules and guards. There is little to distinguish knives from Ilocos Norte/Ilocos Sud from many of those produced to their south, so I have taken to calling all such knives "Ilokano style," thereby hoping to avoid arguments about attribution. Where possible, I try to give an approximate geographic location for an item's production. Seldom do we have specific information about the Province or town of manufacture.

What is unusual about the knife I show in this thread, is that we have an inscription naming a port in Pangasinan, not far from a known center of knife production (Calasiao) in that province. Thus, we see a style of knife probably made locally in Pangasinan in the first half of the 20th C. I think this observation adds to our understanding of local knives made within the broader classification of "Ilokano style."

The short straight "ricasso" on the dagger I show above may help define a specific feature that is common to Pangasinan knives of that period--this is an hypothesis that could be tested by finding other pieces provenanced to this area and from around the same time period. The search continues ...

Regards,

Ian.