Sikkimese Ban Knife of the lepcha peoples.

kronckew · 18th August 2017, 08:36 PM

picked this one up today. more of a general purpose utility knife as is the khukuri of the nearby nepalis. both appear on sale in bhutan. also apparently known there as a patang or ghee chou. they come in assorted sizes from about 7in. on up to sword lengths. carried in their sash belt , or hidden in the folds of their robe where they carry almost everything.

40cm. LOA in scabbard, blade is 26 cm. (10.5 in.) x 3.5 cm.(1.5in.) wide, grip 12cm. (4.5 in.). blade is a full cm. at the bolster, distal tapered down to 0.5 cm. just before the sharply angled tip. appears to be laminated steel. wood scabbard has a cover of thin leather, showing it's age, and some damage to the throat where the razor sharp edge is. the tiger striped wood grip is essentially in one piec tho there is a large crack that looks like it's been filled with some hard resin. not really as bad as it looks in the photos, most of that is just staining either side. the lepcha favour an open scabbard, essentially half of the one like this example, the bhutanese prefer a full scabbard, so this is more likely a 'patang'.

weight with scabbard 484 gm., knife 406 gm. without it.

age & provenance unknown. dealer thought it was african. also added a photo of a pile of these for sale in the thimphu, bhutan's capital, market, along with some dossum and khukuri. (the dossum have more normally tapered and stabby pointed blades but very similar grips & scabbards)

18th August 2017, 08:36 PM	#1
kronckew Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Room 101, Glos. UK Posts: 4,183	Sikkimese Ban Knife of the lepcha peoples. picked this one up today. more of a general purpose utility knife as is the khukuri of the nearby nepalis. both appear on sale in bhutan. also apparently known there as a patang or ghee chou. they come in assorted sizes from about 7in. on up to sword lengths. carried in their sash belt , or hidden in the folds of their robe where they carry almost everything. 40cm. LOA in scabbard, blade is 26 cm. (10.5 in.) x 3.5 cm.(1.5in.) wide, grip 12cm. (4.5 in.). blade is a full cm. at the bolster, distal tapered down to 0.5 cm. just before the sharply angled tip. appears to be laminated steel. wood scabbard has a cover of thin leather, showing it's age, and some damage to the throat where the razor sharp edge is. the tiger striped wood grip is essentially in one piec tho there is a large crack that looks like it's been filled with some hard resin. not really as bad as it looks in the photos, most of that is just staining either side. the lepcha favour an open scabbard, essentially half of the one like this example, the bhutanese prefer a full scabbard, so this is more likely a 'patang'. weight with scabbard 484 gm., knife 406 gm. without it. age & provenance unknown. dealer thought it was african. also added a photo of a pile of these for sale in the thimphu, bhutan's capital, market, along with some dossum and khukuri. (the dossum have more normally tapered and stabby pointed blades but very similar grips & scabbards) Attached Images Last edited by kronckew; 18th August 2017 at 08:56 PM.