Knife (?) with silver inscriptions

[thomas hauschild]

Hi

I got this indonesian (?) piece. I like to know a translation of the silver inscription please. Thanks a lot.

Best Thomas

[Battara]

Almost looks Balinese in form, so yes I think Indonesian would be a good guess.

Hope someone can help with the translation. There is a probability that it is in Jawi, which would mean that although it is in Arabic script, it wouldn't be Arabic.

Another thought, could it be a repurposed Balinese piece?

[Ian]

Hi Thomas,

I think you have a betel knife that may be from Indonesia but could also be Malaysian or Thai. I am interested to hear what the inscription says.

[thomas hauschild]

Heard from a different source, that it is from bali. The inscriptions means ( what I have expected ) more or less „allah is great“ in some more words.

Best Thomas

[Oliver Pinchot]

That's pretty much it. One one side is written, Bismillah al Rahman al Rahim (Blessing of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.)

[Klop]

the inscription is Islamic but the main relegion of Bali is Hinduism, not sure if that is contradictive or regular practice. Anyhow a nice piece!

Kind regards,Eric.

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by thomas hauschild

Heard from a different source, that it is from bali. The inscriptions means ( what I have expected ) more or less „allah is great“ in some more words.

Hello Thomas,
It's for sure not Balinese, the form is wrong and "Allah is great" make no sense on an island with mainly Hindu population.

I guess Malaysia or Southern Thailand as origin.

Regards,
Detlef

[ausjulius]

its a good question normally id say pattani . just because of the angled pommel which is common on knives in that area aswel as kedah and yala and. the shape is like knives and tools from lombok and bali though.. but the pommels nearly always are more cone like.. id say southern thailand malay

[Ian]

ausjulius and Detlef,

I think you are probably correct to put this on mainland SE Asia. If it is a betel knife, as I suspect, the shape of the blade is fairly typical for the Malaysia/Thai region. It is quite common for betel knives to be "dressed up" with silver, etc. although I don't recall seeing one with such an inscription before. Based on the blade form, I lean towards Thai manufacture. Attached are several examples of Thai betel knives. The first two are from Artzi Yarom's web site. The third is from a well-provenanced authoritative source and published in Henry Brownrigg, Betel Cutters from the Samuel Eilenberg Collection, Thames and Hudson, London 1992, p. 132.
.

[Sajen]

Would be great to know the measurements! Thomas??

[thomas hauschild]

Originally Posted by Sajen

Would be great to know the measurements! Thomas??

12 cm blade , in total 29 cm. Blade thickness at the spine is 2,5 mm thickest. Very thin and sharp blade. I haven‘t cut (or tasted) a bethel nut in my life. How hard are this kind of nuts ?

Best Thomas

P.s. Detlef I‘m fully vaccinated since month. Let‘s meet and put our fingers on our new acquisitions.

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by thomas hauschild

12 cm blade , in total 29 cm. Blade thickness at the spine is 2,5 mm thickest. Very thin and sharp blade. I haven‘t cut (or tasted) a bethel nut in my life. How hard are this kind of nuts ?

Best Thomas

P.s. Detlef I‘m fully vaccinated since month. Let‘s meet and put our fingers on our new acquisitions.

Hi Thomas,

Thank you for the measurements! I like this knife and like Ian I guess that it could be a betel knife.
Betel gets used in different degrees of hardness of the nut, in India for example gets used the hard nut, on Halmahera it gets used when fresh, so not very hard.

Write you a mail!

Regards,
Detlef