Garage Sale Knife

[My Precious]

I picked this knife up at a garage sale. Can anyone give me a name on the knife style, orgin, possible date of make? It's about 13" in length, sharpened on both sides of the blade. The handle looks to be hand carved, not sure of the material though... maybe wood with a brown paint and glaze or clearcoat of some kind. The sheath is animal skin of some kind, reptile or gator maybe? I tried to take a picture of the sheath end that has a brass piece on the end that stamped around in the circle " ART.U/16/A.RS m/1. The sheath was sewn together originally but looks like someone tried to use a grey opoxy on it. Any help would be great.

 

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[Bigcypresshunter]

Throw my .02 in here,first thought was ornate letter opener,and armadillo tail immediately came to mind on the sheath

Looks like the tail of an Armadillo.

I just dont think its armadillo. It looks like caiman to me. Here is an armadillo tail. Compare the pics and decide for yourself. An armadillo's tail armor comes in segments or rings. Is the sheath stitched on the backside?

 

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[My Precious]

Here's a couple more pics of the sheath/scabbard. The first pic is looking down at what would be the top, you can see it tapers from a double down to a single line. This is not stitched on the top at all. The 2nd pic is the bottom and it is stitched. You can see someone tried to stick it together with a grey opoxy where the stitching must have come apart.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

I would say definitely baby gator/crocodile/caiman tail. They sliced the bottom to remove the meat and stitched it back. I would say more likely camain because of its small size and for some reason always the same color. I know they have caimans in the Amazon but maybe they also have a similar crocidilian species in Africa, India, or SE Asia.

Here are some distribution maps that may help ID the knife unless the sheath was made somewhere else. http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/cnhc/csl-maps-species-f.htm

 

[AU24K]

"remove the meat".....
Good eatin'! Yummy!
Scott

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

By the looks of the top view you dont just have a section of skin... you have the tail itself.

Would you like some mashed potatoes with your camain tail?

 

[NGE]

That knife would make an awesome plug cutter.......NGE

 

[My Precious]

Thanks for all the help. Do you think I'd run into problems trying to sell something like this on Ebay, I'm talking the caiman tail, is it ok to sell this item... JIM

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Thanks for all the help. Do you think I'd run into problems trying to sell something like this on Ebay, I'm talking the caiman tail, is it ok to sell this item... JIM

No, I dont think its a problem at all. There is a caiman purse and wallet on eBay right now that I pictured. It may be a baby crocodillian species, I dont know for sure. I am just hoping to narrow down the search area.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

I am no expert on knives and swords, so I am only guessing, but the dark wood or horn handle resembles the North African koummya or jambiya. http://images.google.com/imgres?img...nife+koummya&ndsp=20&hl=en&sa=N&start=20&um=1
Maybe the tail is that of a baby Nile Crocodile.

 

[My Precious]

I am no expert on knives and swords, so I am only guessing, but the dark wood or horn handle resembles the North African koummya or jambiya. http://images.google.com/imgres?img...nife+koummya&ndsp=20&hl=en&sa=N&start=20&um=1
Maybe the tail is that of a baby Nile Crocodile.

Hey yea a baby croc or desert reptile are possibilities!

 

[roberte94066]

I think that is a Bedouin dagger-not sure though. Do a Google image search using "Bedouin dagger" and you will see another knife just like this one at the auction site ewolfs.com. I seem to remember reading that the curved blade was quite useful for cutting someones' throat in one quick move.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

It looks similar to this Iraqi Khanjar. http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/4983430

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

I think that is a Bedouin dagger-not sure though. Do a Google image search using "Bedouin dagger" and you will see another knife just like this one at the auction site ewolfs.com. I seem to remember reading that the curved blade was quite useful for cutting someones' throat in one quick move.

Can you copy and paste the link page?

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

I think that is a Bedouin dagger-not sure though. Do a Google image search using "Bedouin dagger" and you will see another knife just like this one at the auction site ewolfs.com. I seem to remember reading that the curved blade was quite useful for cutting someones' throat in one quick move.

Yes here it is! Very similar. http://images.google.com/imgres?img...rev=/images?q=Bedouin+dagger&gbv=2&hl=en&sa=G

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

But which one is is it? ...a Nigerian dagger or Bedouin? http://www.ewolfs.com/past_auctions/mar_art01/546.html

 

[roberte94066]

www.ewolfs.com/.../mar_art01/545-553.html

 

[roberte94066]

You know, on further thought, I'm going to go with Nigerian. One, I don't think the Bedouin dagger would have a wooden handle, and, two, Nigeria does have crocs and such.