Item Description
Original Item: One Only. This is special, from the land of the Reindeer. Northern Finland, Eastern part of Sweden, very North Eastern part of Norway and western Russia. This is the land that time forgot, known as Sápmi.. Bitterly cold, the indigenous Sami population have been hunter/gatherers for time immemorial. With a declining population today of about 180,000 people, knives such as these are becoming harder to find.
Here is a very traditional Sami Hunting Knife, with a grip made of stacked Reindeer antler and Leather, with a primitively forged 8 1/2" single edge blade. These are called stuorraniibi (big knife) in the Sami language, and lapinleuku or leuku in Finnish. These typically have have a long, wide, and strong blade that is suited for light chopping tasks such as de-limbing, cutting small trees for shelter poles (See lavvu), brush clearing, bone breaking and butchering tasks, and is sometimes used as a substitute for an axe for chopping and splitting small amounts of firewood from standing dead trees - an essential ability when all dead and fallen wood is buried underneath many layers of snow. Typical Sami knives have a blade length ranging from 7 1/2 to 18 inches, depending on intended use.
The knife is contained in a carved wood, Reindeer leather mounted scabbard decorated with geometric designs and a Reindeer with the biggest rack of Antlers ever seen.The backside of the scabbard is also decorated appears to have a carved date of 1921, but also some pencil inscription, which reads MINNE FRAN SUORVAJAURE over A.V.K. and a date of 1921.The top of the wood scabbard is clad with a leather with a loop for attachment to belt. Clearly very old and absolutely genuine.
This is definitely a souvenir taken back by some Finn or Swede, and possibly given to a friend. Impossible to find such an early example in a great matured condition.
- This product is available for international shipping.
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