Vietnamese talismanic knife?

[blue lander]

Just won the auction for this. The seller thought it was Vietnamese from the early 20th century but who knows how he came to that conclusion. It's only 18.5 cm long so it must be some sort of amulet or ritual knife?

The wavy lines on the blade look a lot like the marks you see on Thai dhas and whatnot. I wonder if they're writing or just decoration? I'll clean it up a little when it arrives and take better pictures.

[Tim Simmons]

Very interesting. Looking forward to see it cleaned. Is it brass? I am bit unsure about the handle in those pictures. More interesting than most stuff from SE Asia. Looks Burmese? Chindit handle?

[blue lander]

The seller didn't mention what the blade was, but he did mention it was over 5mm thick.

It reminds me a lot of those Thai amulet knives, but the writing looks more like Burmese and I've never seen an amulet knife in this shape. They seem to usually look more like miniature E-neps or Kerises.

I've attached two more pictures that show the figure on the hilt better. Seller says it's bone but I bet it's tooth.

[Tim Simmons]

I think Burmese without a doubt. Google Chinthe. Just that handle looks funny? It might even be hamster bone {aka vandoo}

[blue lander]

That looks like a dead ringer for the figure on the handle. I guess it's Burmese after all. Dare I ask what hamster bone is?

Edit: I just reread the auction description and he says it's a betel nut knife. It doesn't look like any of the betel knives I've seen on google though.

[Sajen]

Interesting item! But not a betel knife. Would like to see some better pictures. The handle material look a little bit odd, would like to see some better pictures when you have received it.
Hamster bone : Barry has written recently in a other thread what people used to describe ivory in ebay and it seems that one seller has described it as hamster bone!

Regards,
Detlef