Origin of a S.E.A. heavy knife (chopper? )
 

Hello,

Yesterday there was a military exhibition in my city, there was very little ethnographic weapons but I found some very cheap items : Kriss pendok, old Mandingo sword (with french blade), an antique Vietnamese crossbow with quiver and arrows (from Moi people?) and this strange possibly Indonesian knife according to the seller.
I am not convinced by the Indonesian origin, but there is no doubt that it comes from Southeast Asia. The handle is covered with bronze (with a beautiful old patina), and the sheath is made of a single piece of wood (very thick) with a copper reinforcement at its opening.

The shape of the blade makes me think of some knife Filipino but also to what can be done on the side of Thailand / Laos / Cambodia...

Has anyone ever seen anything similar?

Hi
Write on Google "Sri Lankan knife"
Bon appetit

Merci ;)

Now that you tell me it, seems obvious to me especially for the shape of the sheath and the blade.
But I had never seen anything similar before for the handle (and I went to Sri Lanka and I visited several antique dealers).

hmm thats because its not form sri lanka thats why you didnt seen anything likeit . its probaly from vietnam where many peoples sheaths have varying degrees of curvature in the sheath and many have metal hands at thethroat as well. although it looks like your knife has some off opwn sides to the sheath??. the blade is typical of some knives.. but the handle is a but of a mess cant even make out its construction due to the patina.

Athanase,

I think Ausjulius is on the right track. The scabbard made from a single piece of wood is typical of working knives from Vietnam/Laos/Combodia. Sometimes these are surprisingly light weight for their size, presumably reflecting a soft wood that would be easy to carve out. The hilt is hard to see in the seller's pics. The shape of the blade is also of that area, somewhat like a modern Thai enep. I have several similar knives of village quality that were brought back from Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia by U.S. servicemen in the 1960s. They have been variously described as "Montagnard," "Moi," "hill tribe," etc. Your piece may also be from that era, or perhaps earlier given the brass/bronze work on the hilt.

A MSEA attribution seems consistent with some of the other items for sale at the same time.

I like these well worn pieces--adds character. :)

Ian

Agree with Julius and Ian, I also think that it is some sort of enep (so called in Thailand), it will be such a knife from somewhere in the given area my two previous commentators have given. Compare with this one from Thailand: http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...highlight=enep and here one with not exact known origin: http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...light=thailand
But compare the general blade profile with all shown knives in this both threads.

Regards,
Detlef

Comparison of the general blade shape!

supplement comment
 

What look weird is the centric tang, all other shown knives show an offset tang. :shrug:
This was the main reason that I wait for other comments if I am the only one who recognize the typical blade shape. ;)

Detlef,

I agree that the centrally placed tang is unusual and it gave me pause to think about it. Given the crude forging of the blade, it may simply have been one guy's preference and not a general style. I would add southern Yunnan to the list of possible origins too.

Ian

Ok,
Thank you very much to all of you for your help. :)