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Old 27th October 2020, 05:38 PM   #7
David
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Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Nova Scotia
Posts: 7,012
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That's a nice little item you have there. I'm pretty much in line with what Detlef stated about dating, though i'm not convinced "souvenir" is definitely the case. While this little dagger isn't a practical weapon it might have some other cultural significance and miniatures of blades have been created around the world in many cultures that aren't necessarily meant to be sold to tourists. It is nicely constructed from good materials and has a laminated blade. And you did a nice job on the renovations. If it were mine i might even consider locating some MOP to fill the empty holes in the hilt.
Early gunongs were indeed rather small daggers. The blades got larger when colonial powers banned swords. They were meant for stealth, to be concealed weapons. But you do need a dagger to be long enough to ensure it does some actually damage and 9cm probably would be more a nuisance than a death blow.
Here is my early gunong. The blade here is a 13.4cm. I think it would be hard (though not impossible) for anything much small to be used as a weapon.
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