Old Spanish (?) blade in Visayan dress

[Ian]

At first glance this one looks like a rather ordinary Visayan knife, But there is a bit more to it.

The blade is intriguing. It has an acutely pointed tip with a long back false edge. It is almost flat on the reverse side (where there is a wide bevel that is very shallow). The obverse side has a marked bevel. The edge remains very sharp. What is interesting is the gold inlay work on the obverse side. This is very fine and delicate, depicting leaves and flowers, with evidence of inlay work extending down on to the beveled area. About half the inlay has disappeared, but signs remain of where it was. There is enough left to indicate that this is not likely to be traditional Filipino work. It could be European (Spanish?) work, or perhaps Chinese. There is an engraved inscription, "EMS," at the distal end of the inlaid decorations, which pushes me towards a Spanish origin.

The blade appears to be old with a nice patina, to be made from high carbon steel, and there are no laminations obvious. On both sides, there is a sharply demarcated, dark line across the blade adjacent to the hilt that might suggest the blade had an accompanying guard at one time. I would say the blade is 19th C or perhaps late 18th C, dating from the Spanish Colonial period. The edge remains very sharp and the blade has not been sharpened in decades.

As for the hilt and scabbard, these look like WWII-era work and don't do the blade justice. The hilt is very short (8.2 cm, ~3.2 in.) and the blade measures 30.5 cm (12 in.) long. OAL in scabbard is 40.7 cm (16 in.).

As always, your thoughts and comments are most welcome.
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