Short Dha For ID
 

This Dha, is another ebay purchase, listed as a Vietnam bringback. Blade is approx. 16" long. Positive ID, and comments are much appreciated.

Correction: Blade is 12 1/2" long. Somebody, anybody???

Not Vietnamese. Thai, or possibly Laotian (ethnic Tai, in any event, so I guess Shan is also possible).

This one looks to have been altered a bit by its final owner. The hilt has been decorated with incised "V"s and the scabbard has some recent, heavier rattan work added to provided a belt loop or similar suspension device. If we take away these "alien" features, then we have a fairly ordinary work knife that most resembles those from Northern Thailand/Laos/Southern Yunnan--the Golden Triangle area... Just what Mark said. (Hi Mark--long time since we last spoke)

Thanks guys. So, very possibly a Vietnam War bringback.

Yes TW, quite possibly a Vietnam-era bring back. In those days quite a few GIs ended up in places they "never were" ;)

Indeed. My wife's grandfather drove the planes, that took them to those places, they never were. Had he been killed in action, it would have been in a training exercise, in Kansas.

Hi Ian!
It has been a while. Starting to dip my toes in after a long hiatus. Lots of catching up to do :)

Yes, I agree Ian, great to see Mark posting again :)

Trenchwarfare, thanks for sharing. Vietnam war bring backs are interesting...if accurate you would think that this would be from among the different Tai groups that live in Vietnam and Laos. It's a basic working blade that every man/ household would have as multi-purpose jungle/ bush knife/ tool. That being said...I've also seen similar from Thailand and Burma as well. Mark mentioned Shan...which reminds me of a knife from the Shan states I've seen before with the same type belt loop binding as this one...and it did have a carved/ gouged grip handle as well...but I'm not sure if this would be enough for it to be exclusive to this region.

Here are some more recent working blades I picked up...which at the time I perhaps perhaps mislabled as Karen...it was actually a temporary village set up of sellers from various ethnic groups...the blade shape I know now is considered Hmong style...and could be obviously carried by a non Hmong person...nowadays at markets you see usually just the knife or sometime just the bare blade...and the buyer then has a handle put on and scabbard made
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=5163