Philippine Sword With Unusual Hilt
 

Here is a (to me anyway) unusual hilt for a sword from the Philippines. Grip is horn with nickel silver collar and a brass pommel cap. There is some worn damage to the horn grip. The tang goes all the way through the hilt and is peened over. Blade length is 18" with the hilt being 5-1/2". The shape makes for a very secure grip. All comments are welcome.

Robert

Hi Robert:

That looks like a fairly recently made hilt from Luzon, notwithstanding the worm damage. The blade may be a bit older, but the "AD" stamp at forte suggests that this one started life as a leaf spring from an automobile. Scabbard is probably hte oldest part of the ensemble.

The cut out finger holds have been around in the Philippines since at least WWII. I have several similar aluminium hilts that are stamped with dates immediately after WWII. The horn versions seemed to post date those, however.

Late 20th C Luzon knife and hilt is my guess. Perhaps made for a Gi stationed in Luzon.

Ian.

Hi Ian,
I figured post WWII on this knife but it is the first horn hilt like this I had seen with the finger grooves. I've seen the aluminium hilted short knives that you mentioned before (they are always on ebay) just not one of horn. The scabbard came with this when I first acquired it and is in great shape. It fits this pretty well but I was never convinced that it was original to this knife. Thanks for your help and interest.

Robert