Unusual brass-hilted knife--opinions sought re origin

[Ian]

I posted these pictures on the old UBB Forum about 12 years ago and while we had a spirited discussion about the possible origins of this knife, nothing definite emerged.

This one has had me stumped for several years. I purchased it in about 2000 and the only history I have is from the seller who believed it was a WWII bringback, taken by a GI from a Japanese prisoner on Okinawa in 1945. There may be no truth in this story.

The knife appears to have some age, perhaps late 19th or early 20th C., and is heavy for one so short. The hilt is solid brass and, given the intricacies of design, seems to have been cast using the lost wax method. The decoration on the hilt is quite detailed and crisp. A blind tang construction, the hilt is secured by a dark resinous glue. The drop point blade is "chunky" being 1/4 inch just in front of the hilt and is still 1/8 inch just before the tip. The single-edged blade is a nice piece of polished steel, and may have been hardened along the sharpened edge. The sheath is wood covered with brushed copper sheet and brass or copper bands.

Dimensions: overall 9 1/4 inches, blade = 5 1/4 inches, hilt = 4 inches.

My first thought was an origin in mainland SE Asia based on the general shape of the blade and hilt, but the blade is much heavier than usually seen, the sheath is unusual for that region, and the decorations on the hilt with lots of spirals just do not seem to fit any of the Burmese/Kachin/Shan (Tai)/Khmer styles.

More recently, I have come across a reference to a similar knife attributed to the Chin-Lushai peoples of Assam (1). I believe the Chin have some distant relationship to the Shan (Tai) people of Burma/Yunnan/Northern Thailand/Laos.

In the previous post, it was noted that Egerton (2) also shows a similar knife that he attributed to Burmah (no. 233). After researching the travels of Egerton in India, I don’t think he ever visited Burma so I’m not sure how reliable he is with that identification.

Ian.

(1) Ian Heath. Armies of the Nineteenth Century: Asia. 3. India’s Northeast Frontier. Guernsey:Foundry Books, 1999, p. 74. (illustration based on N.E. Parry. The Lakhars, 1932)

(2) Wilbrahim Egerton. Indian and Oriental Arms and Armor. New York: Dover Publications, 2002, figure 19, p. 84. (a facsimile of Egerton’s original work published in 1880)

[DaveA]

Ian,

I will follow this thread with great interest. I believe the region of Assam is fertile hunting for identification of weapons that are not readily consistent with the surrounding areas. In the north, there are borders with Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet. To the west, India, to the east, Nagaland and Burma, and to the South, Bengladesh and the sea. There are many ethnic groups in the region thus providing the opportunity for much cross-influence.

After years of trying to identify an item in my collection (along with many interesting speculations on the forum), I was able to originate it with the Kabul Naga tribe near Manipur.

Good luck!

Dave A

[Ian]

Dave:

Thanks for your thoughts. Yes, Assam is an interesting melting pot of styles. Tribes there have connections to the Kachin and Shan, which particularly interests me as I have a fondness for swords of the Myanmar groups.

An item finished on eBay this evening and unfortunately I was outbid on it. It is a dha with brass hilt that has some of the same spiral elements as the knife I posted as the subject of this thread. In the case of this dha, the brass overlies a wood core and shows repousse work on the pommel. Although the seller put it up as Burmese, I doubt that attribution based on the decoration on the hilt. It may well have a similar origin as the knife, and I have some pictures of Assamese tribal groups with long swords that resemble dha with "lotus bud" pommels.

Here are the seller's pictures from the auction.

Ian.

[Andrew]

Ian, I have several dha with that spiral wire work. I believe all are from Burma, but may well be from the regions to the northwest as suggested.

[Ian]

Andrew:

I am posting below a figure from Ian Heath's, Armies of the Nineteenth Century: Asia 3. India's North-East Frontier, 1999, p. 74. Here is the faint text which accompanied the diagrams.

Though they were drawn from Shendu examples, these weapons are all equally characteristic of most other Chin-Lushai peoples. They comprise (1) a spear with a typical lozenge shaped blade and a butt-spike; (2) a quiver, complete with lid secured by a piece of string; (3) a typical Chin-Lushai bracer; (4) a dao (takong); (5) a basketwork dao scabbard with shoulder strap; (6) a sword (zozi); (7) a typical decorated mithun-horn powder-flask; and (8) a small brass-handled knife and scabbard. These all come from N.E. Parry's The Lakhars (1932). They were obviously not drawn to scale, but there is a rule adjacent to each individual drawing which the artist has graduated in inches.

On the following page, Heath has this to say about some of the edged weapons.

"The Shendu dao (called a takong) was 18–22 inches (46–56 cm) from the tip of the blade to the end of the bamboo handle. It was most often thrust through the loincloth waistband behind the back or was carried in the usual haversack that was slung over one or other shoulder, but cane scabbards with a bone chape were sometimes seen, suspended at the left side with a leather baldric or a cane hoop worn over the right shoulder. Chiefs and leading warriors might substitute a variety of long handled dao called a zozi. This was actually a curved sword of Burmese provenance, which had a blade up to about 19 inches (48 cm) long and a brass ornamented handle of about another 10–11 inches (25–28 cm). It had a brass scabbard described by Parry as 'lacquered in red or black, or in alternate sections of red or black'."

The underlining is my addition for emphasis. For comparison, I have also included below the hilts of my knife and the dha that I had posted earlier in this thread. Note the similarity in decoration of the hilts, especially the pommels, of these two examples with the drawings from Heath.

Ian.

[Nathaniel]

Ian, that is a very interesting diagram...wonderful find with listed providence. I'll have to pick up the Health's Northwest front book. Normally, when I see the wire scrolled decoration on this knife, I think of those Laotian brass handle swords. Wonderful knife...the down tipped handle angle...and brass scabbard as well. Thank you for sharing.