Still a Mystery ...

[milandro]

he has a bag full of misty knives thrown over his shoulder

[kronckew]

I enlarged and inverted the scabbard bit. Makes it easier to see the figure. Still have no idea what he is doing...

[kahnjar1]

To me it looks as if he is walking along with a basket over his shoulder. From what I can see it looks very like baskets used for tea/tobacco picking so maybe the original idea that the knife is used for that purpose could be correct. The dress of the man looks Chinese to me.
Stu

[Edster]

Maybe a puer tea cake knife. It is used to break up puer tea cakes or bricks since they may be pressed tightly.

See attached link. I couldn't get a picture of the knife shown. The shape is similar to yours.

https://www.umiteasets.com/products/...cake-axe-knife

[kai]

Thanks, Ed, that seems like a pretty compelling ID, indeed!

The shown knife is a modern rendition and, thus, less likely to be true to its type. Let's see if we can come up with any antique examples which would carry more weight for final conclusions...

Regards,
Kai

[Ian]

Ed,

Thank you so much!!! I think you have solved my riddle. The Oriental figure (a woman I believe) on the sheath could easily be Chinese, and pu-ehr tea, which is manufactured in bricks, is peculiar to Yunnan and neighboring northern Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. There is a nice online explanation of pu-ehr tea and pu-ehr cakes here.

My knife is clearly decorative in its sheath, and would fit well a tea service. As to its origin, I think we need to look to where pu-ehr tea is popular in southern China and neighboring SE Asia. The hilt is carved horn, with what I have called a dog-head pommel, but could be a cat. The horn type is consistent with water buffalo and it has some slight beetle damage consistent with horn damage on other hilts, etc. The brass sheath has a plain rear side and the engraved front as shown above and in more detail in Wayne's post.

Wayne, thanks for enlarging the picture of the front of the sheath. Thanks also to Stu who raised the idea the figure could be collecting tea. I had not thought of tea when I first saw it.

I'm fairly sure that Ed has nailed this one, and I thank him for finding the closely matching blade profile.

For our archives, here are pictures from the site Ed referenced:


.



And with a pu-ehr tea cake:


.

[Ian]

Given that this knife is probably not a weapon, I'm moving it over to the Miscellaneous Forum.

[kahnjar1]

Originally Posted by Ian

Ed,

Thank you so much!!! I think you have solved my riddle. The Oriental figure (a woman I believe) on the sheath could easily be Chinese, and pu-ehr tea, which is manufactured in bricks, is peculiar to Yunnan and neighboring northern Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. There is a nice online explanation of pu-ehr tea and pu-ehr cakes here.

My knife is clearly decorative in its sheath, and would fit well a tea service. As to its origin, I think we need to look to where pu-ehr tea is popular in southern China and neighboring SE Asia. The hilt is carved horn, with what I have called a dog-head pommel, but could be a cat. The horn type is consistent with water buffalo and it has some slight beetle damage consistent with horn damage on other hilts, etc. The brass sheath has a plain rear side and the engraved front as shown above and in more detail in Wayne's post.

Wayne, thanks for enlarging the picture of the front of the sheath. Thanks also to Stu who raised the idea the figure could be collecting tea. I had not thought of tea when I first saw it.

I'm fairly sure that Ed has nailed this one, and I thank him for finding the closely matching blade profile.

Hi Ian,
I think more likely a man as a bald head with a Que (pigtail) was common in early China. Just a thought.............
Stu

[fernando]

Originally Posted by Ian

...Wayne, thanks for enlarging the picture of the front of the sheath...

So illuminating indeed... and i mean it. A tot of Port for Wayne .