Having a background in Asian martial arts especially of Japan and Central Java in Indonesia its not often that I come across a weapon that puzzles me. But this triple point Indo-Persian knife coming up for sale by Rock Island Auction is something that has piqued my curiosity. The knife is clearly not a slicing weapon as the diamond cross section prongs are not going to be sharp enough for that, so that defines it as a stabbing weapon, yet the triple points do not look like they will penetrate deeply, certainly not as deeply as a USMC Ka-bar for example or a Javanese Kris. Similarly the curve of the hilt and first part of the blade seem not to quite fit with the triple upturned points. In short it looks like a knife that has been designed to be like an animal’s claws and probably used in a similar fashion, with the knife held in a reverse “back hand” way as is often favored in Philippines Kali for example.
This weapon is described by Rock Island Auction has having a Damascus blade and the Damascus patterning in the blade looks fine, subtle and attractive. The hilt and scabbard feature overlaid “Koftgari” decorations in gold. Koftgari is created by heating the area to be overlaid and then finely scratching it to create a roughened surface for the overlay gold or silver to grip to. The area is heated again and then allowed to cool sufficiently to be handled. fine gold or silver wire is then pressed into the prepared surface in the design desired and further pressed in to help it bond. The piece is heated again to further cause the overlaid metal to attach to the surface permanently. Finally the piece is polished with a hakkik stone, opni or moonstone.
For a demonstration of Koftgari there is an amateur video on YouTube made by craftsman Sandeep Singh.
After having watched the video you may find you will have enough basic information to try Koftgari for yourself.
This intriguing triple pointed Indo-Persian knife is coming up for sale by Rock Island Auction at their on-line sale to be held on 16th February 2017.
You will find the sale page for this knife if you click here.
This is something of a mystery knife and if you have information you can share with us about it and perhaps how it was meant to be employed it would be appreciated if you would visit our Facebook page and leave a comment.
(All pictures courtesy Rock Island Auction).
Jon Branch is the founder and senior editor of Revivaler and has written a significant number of articles for various publications including official Buying Guides for eBay, classic car articles for Hagerty, magazine articles for both the Australian Shooters Journal and the Australian Shooter, and he’s a long time contributor to Silodrome.
Jon has done radio, television, magazine and newspaper interviews on various issues, and has traveled extensively, having lived in Britain, Australia, China and Hong Kong. His travels have taken him to Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan and a number of other countries. He has studied the Japanese sword arts and has a long history of involvement in the shooting sports, which has included authoring submissions to government on various firearms related issues and assisting in the design and establishment of shooting ranges.
