Asian dagger for comment

[kronckew]

posted over on another forum while this one was down: (linky to other forum thread)

Originally Posted by kronckew

Found this one on ebay, billed as an early oriental/japanese dagger, possibly 18c. to me it has features of a kindjal as well as some tibetan like features, possibly north chinese or one of the areas of the old soviet republics in the area. will post better photos when it arrives. 16 in. LOA, 10 1/4 in. blade, appears single edged. horn grip, one rivet/domed washer missing

Originally Posted by kronckew

asian dagger arrived today, 17 in. LOA, 4.5 in. grip, 10.25 in. single edged blade 15/16 in. wide at guard, 1/4 in. thick at guard, distal taper to point.

grip is blonde horn one side, dark horn the other.the scales are held by a series of rivets and dome washers, as well as diamond shaped washers, pommel is steel, with a domed washer, peened bit at the end that may be the tang peened over or just another rivet. there is a substantial rivet about a half inch from the guard that i'd bet was thru a stub-tang which may be fairly short.

scabbard is steel over wood with a 3/4 in. gap between the upper and lower steel sections where wood is exposed. scabbard has numerous dings and a few worn holes but is substantially intact. scabbard throat has a brass decorated band around it as well as one roughly 3/4 in. below it. both have a steel strap over the brass. these are riveted to a steel piece standing perpendicular to the surface - it has a flat tail that extends down along the seam but is not fastened or braised to it, this piece has a hole for the 5/8 in. diameter steel ring that has a leather belt loop with sewn ends.

the seam in the sheel steel of the scabbard as well as on the dagger pommel itself is braised rather than soldered and the brass is evident in the seams and in the pictures.the steel oval guard is a bit loose, possibly from horn shrinkage.

now the best bit, the blade turns out to be laminated steel, in the hairpin fashion popular in the tibet/nepal region, you can see the layers in the photo. they are more evident on the port side of the blade but can be made out on the starboard side in good light as well.

the grip is not similar to those tibetan ones i've seen, so i do wonder where this comes from, any ideas?

consensus there, inc. steve f. & bill m. was that it was likely russian/tibetan/chinese/bhutanese due to the hairpin laminations but hilt was not typical of tibet/bhutan/china and had kindjal-like features, i'm reposting here to see if we can get some more info from the other experts...