Knife (?) with silver inscriptions

[Ian]

ausjulius and Detlef,

I think you are probably correct to put this on mainland SE Asia. If it is a betel knife, as I suspect, the shape of the blade is fairly typical for the Malaysia/Thai region. It is quite common for betel knives to be "dressed up" with silver, etc. although I don't recall seeing one with such an inscription before. Based on the blade form, I lean towards Thai manufacture. Attached are several examples of Thai betel knives. The first two are from Artzi Yarom's web site. The third is from a well-provenanced authoritative source and published in Henry Brownrigg, Betel Cutters from the Samuel Eilenberg Collection, Thames and Hudson, London 1992, p. 132.
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[Sajen]

Would be great to know the measurements! Thomas??

[thomas hauschild]

Originally Posted by Sajen

Would be great to know the measurements! Thomas??

12 cm blade , in total 29 cm. Blade thickness at the spine is 2,5 mm thickest. Very thin and sharp blade. I haven‘t cut (or tasted) a bethel nut in my life. How hard are this kind of nuts ?

Best Thomas

P.s. Detlef I‘m fully vaccinated since month. Let‘s meet and put our fingers on our new acquisitions.

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by thomas hauschild

12 cm blade , in total 29 cm. Blade thickness at the spine is 2,5 mm thickest. Very thin and sharp blade. I haven‘t cut (or tasted) a bethel nut in my life. How hard are this kind of nuts ?

Best Thomas

P.s. Detlef I‘m fully vaccinated since month. Let‘s meet and put our fingers on our new acquisitions.

Hi Thomas,

Thank you for the measurements! I like this knife and like Ian I guess that it could be a betel knife.
Betel gets used in different degrees of hardness of the nut, in India for example gets used the hard nut, on Halmahera it gets used when fresh, so not very hard.

Write you a mail!

Regards,
Detlef