Small Phillipines? Knives

[Hotspur]

I had adopted this item from a friend, mostly for closer inspection and in working with polishing the blade I wondered two things. Firstly, in that the general form seems fairly common, especially as tourist items but the questio is; Were these derived from a common utility knife in this size, or simply trinkets? This one is roughly seven inches long in its scabbard. A diminutive two finger handle and less than five inches of blade.

In working on removing scratches and nicks of the blade, another question came to mind because of what I may see in the depth of its grain. Is it possible that meteoric steels find there way into such trinkets?

A very pretty piece of horn and the fittings were also better appreciated once in hand. I don't have great pictures of the blade at this point but in going though stages to bring it quite bright, it seems the blade has a certain inner frosty look to it. I had also removed a good bit of the plating down to copper and have been woring on new plating via a product simply named Silver Secret.

This item has become a great letter opener and the blade quality fine enough to reach close to razor sharp.

Thanks for any considerations others may have regarding these diminutive knives.

Hotspur; I have only a very small collection of island type pieces