your opnion is requested....

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Originally Posted by ausjulius

Not ceremonial. It's a utility knife form the no.ads around lake kokonor. Take a photo of the back of the blade . These are usually quite thick but not always. Also many have an asymmetrical grind on the blade.
They are not Tibetan as such a by a mix of Tibetan and mongolic knives as that's where the two groups meet. Many of the makers of these knives or of their blades and from the tiny Muslim hybrid ethnic group the Bonan. As they migrate through this area working as blacksmiths. There is a cultural band descending from the arctic down into Mongolia and all the way to Tibet there assymetrical grinding on blades is popular.
This area around lake kokonor is it's extent after that area the typically slightly convex symmetrical blade grind will appear. And if you go further west Persian influenced knives appear among the Uyghurs.. anyway these days in that area most blacksmiths making knives are bonan. Once they were mostly Tibetans or Mongols. But the bonan are just very active in blacksmithing and retail trade of these goods.
The asymmetric grinds on many of these are used to scrape and shave materials.
It's hard to see if yours has an asymmetrical grind on the blade or not. But it is common.
Some.of these knives are very thick. I have a recently made one without a sheath that's about 10mm thick. But others have a more regular Tibetan blade dimension
.
Anyway until very recently it was common to see people wearing these on their belts
And still today you'll see nomads wearing them .

much obliged for your feedback and info; highly appreciated!
just arrived and cleaned it. Most interesting knife, at least for me it is ( even if my knowledge of knives from these parts is virtually zero).
First it is quite heavy for such a small knife; even heavier than most daggers I have.
Material of the scabbard is thick wood, covered with copper and onto the copper silver decoration, with a smal piece of leather onto which the skull is attached.
The silver decoration is also thick and high quality; I would say around 800, not the low grade or flimsy silverlike one sees in Asia quite often.

The grip is made out of black and with horn or bone withn a blade that is spherical / bulbous at one side whilst the other side has a kind of blood groove and is indeed quite thick for such a small ( in lenght that is) knife: the edge is not sharp but has 1 mm and turns to 2-3 mm in the middle.

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