Nice :)

any age indication ?

Possibly Shinshinto or Meiji period.

I've always liked these mini-Dhas. Great detail.

Saw this last year at the Eugene OR knife show. I was told that it took a lot of hours to complete each one. The Panabas is great.

Wow, a lot of intersting miniatures to seen in this thread!

This miniature khukri I got this morning. Its blade is made of brass, the sheeth is wood with a leather coat. Total length with scabbard is 145mm, length of blade is 78mm

Small Uzbek Knifes
 

Small/mini Uzbek knifes, some are souvenirs but made just like real ones and of the same material and quality.

slightly off topic, nice pictures with the "sharpie" markers :D intentional ? ;)

Most likely Sundanese (people of West Java) Pisau Raut (Carving knife)

I want to show some miniature blades, too.

At first a small katana made of bone.
Length overall: 19,5cm
without scabbard: 16,5cm

Number two: a miniature Koummya.
Length overall: 9cm
Without scabbard: 8cm

Number three:
A miniature Kris, blade and scabbard are made of silver.
Is anyone here who is able to read the hallmarks?
Length overall: 20,5cm
Without scabbard: 19,5cm

Hi Gonzoadler. Unusual shaped blade on your second example.

Health to all.
In the photo below you see three Byongi (parade knives of the Konda people, R.D.C.) of normal size and one of small size (18 cm), and then the mini knife alone.

Here instead we see an akrafena (Akan people, Ivory Coast) of normal size and a tiny one.

and, finally, a "homeopathic" keris (13 cm).

Mr. Osobist, I was about to ask if you're an Afghanistan veteran, but then I noticed that some people collect matchboxes. I used to collect cigarette packages when I was a kid. Then I switched to tarot cards and other things.
Mr. Sajen, มีดหมอ is perhaps the Thai word commonly used to refer to such articles. I find it transliterated as "meed mor". The transliteration into Latin letters may or may not accurately reflect the actual pronunciation. I find the word translated variously, on assorted webpages, as "knife", "lancet", "doctor's knife", "exorcist's knife", or "sorcerer's magic knife". The richness of the nuances of meaning can be lost in translation. A few of the problems with translations are: they may be a "rough and ready", improvised, or ad hoc solution intended to convey the "general idea", Mickey Moused up by a non-linguistically inclined layman who, in addition, is no "gunpowder inventor". Certain subtitled movies sometimes illustrate this; movies with the original audio of the dialogue dubbed over are even better, and so much worse.
The "word-for-word" translation is, in some languages, an impossibility. In those instances where it can be pulled off, the end result in the target language sometimes reads like a wooden shoe that's too small.
Unless it's explicitly stated, I'm left guessing as to whether the intent was to translate as literally as possible, to convey the meaning of an idiomatic expression in the source language, to interpret, or some ad hoc/ improvised/ variable/ combination/ "play it by ear"/ "fly by the seat of the pants" method.
How does one convey the meaning of "mumbo jumbo" into Swahili? Is "hoc est corpus" an accurate translation into Latin of "hocus pocus? Is "abracadabra" a good interpretation into English of "sim sala bim", or would it be best to leave it untranslated? Should "alakazam" be translated to "sim sala bim" if German is the target language? If I don't know the source language of a word (it's not necessarily the same as the language of origin of the word), translation or interpretation of "nostrum" or "patrem" are shots in the dark. "Sama suku" from Bahasa Indonesia to Finnish and vice versa is the only example which comes to mind that doesn't present very much of a conundrum.
I think I recall that Bambang Harsrinuksmo in "Ensiklopedi Keris" gave specific measurements which enabled one to distinguish a patrem from a "keris proper/ standard keris", and a patrem from a keris jimat.
The really tiny ones (<8cm. or so) appear to be made of brass and/or (I'm guessing) some other kind of copper alloy which can be patinated almost black.. I doubt very much that it's swasa, or any other alloy containing Au or Ag, though I could be wrong.
Pics can be found by Googling "keris jimat". Does anyone know what metals are used to make these, and the technique used to achieve the contrast in colours?

A very similar one in the same size. The hair in up from the handle is missing. Same workshop?

Comparison

Yes, this must be the same workshop.

European agents of serious swordmaking companies used to carry miniature copies of the real wares in their traveling cases. Prospective buyers could pick and choose. But dating them to the 1960s seems to exclude this possibility. The Bebut ( curved bladed kindjal) from the Osobist's collection carries a niello inscription on the scabbard "Kavkaz" written in the old Russian style: a local souvenir. I guess that the mini Nihonto examples were also souvenirs.
There is a Polish book of a Kris collector ( I vaguely remember he might have been an ambassador to Indonesia). His most important item was a very miniature Kris, gifted to him by Sukarno.
What was the purpose of the rest of Indonesian, Thai and Philippine mini daggers is a mystery to me. They would not have any practical value as self-defense weapons, so souvenirs is the first thing that comes into my mind.

Hello Ariel,

Small keris like the one shown in post #1 this thread are jimats.
I don't think it's easy like this, some of the ones from me showed SEA items have a practical value, but by others like the gunong I would agree.
The two mini swords from Willem and me are collector items, I hesitate to call them souvenirs.

Regards,
Detlef

:D:D:D

I have no problem calling my miniature jimpul a souvernir.
It is to small to be used as anything. Not even as letter opener.

These certainly were not cheap(ly made) souvenirs. However, they had no place in the originating cultures and were specifically made for selling to colonial "guests" - so, high-end souvenir might well be a reasonable description...

There are also those tiny jewellery blades, usually from silver and often made as brooches.

Regards,
Kai

I am also not, but since they are worked from silver they are somewhat expensive souvenirs and special for collectors. ;):D

I checked the internet.
Price of Sterling Silver ( 92.5%) is $20.11 per ounce or $0.71 per gram.
A McDonalds burger with small fries would cost more than the entire silver-cladding of a miniature kindjal ( scabbard and handle).

I prefer the silver miniatures, and not just because they are cheaper. :D

Hi Ariel,

Like Willem I prefer the silver miniatures! :D And don't forget that some work is involved to make such a miniature.

Regards,
Detlef

I recently received this cute little guy, a bit over 7" in scabbard. The blade is actually sharp and has a nice profile and distal taper. Would this be a Thai style daarb? Shown next to another miniature similar to ones already posted in this thread.

Some minatures
 

Here are a few more.
No idea what the two small silver ones were made for, they look like broaches but have not got clasps on them and are too small to be effective letter openers. The Cocos Keeling is the smallest I have seen.
Roy

Can we have a definition of what is a "miniature?" How much does it need to be scaled down to qualify?

Ariel, a lot of the small Thai knives are spiritual talismans called meed mor, but often referred to as "priest knives" in the older European literature. The composition of the knives and the religious blessings they receive have significance in the culture of origin.

A mini pedang. 1st I have ever seen.

19th Century miniature weapons
 

made by Granger (Paris) in the 1820 timeframe I think

Can you give us some size indication ?

the swords range from 6 to 7 inches in length. The daggers are approximately 2 inches.