White Deer Horn Mini Jungle - Picture

C

Craig Gottlieb

Joined
Mar 8, 1999
Messages
1,760
Folks: Just thought I'd post a pic of the only khukuri that I hand-carried back from Nepal:

deermini.jpg


It's about mini-jungle sized, and is VERY nicely made. I found it on the wall on Lalit's second shop (in Jawalakel, a part of Kathmandu).



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Craig Gottlieb
Gurkha House
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Craig, what a neat little piece. The handle looks great! Hope to see more tripix soon.

Best, Scott
 
Kipkan: Thanks! I'll be posting the pics of the new models once my shipment comes in (I trusted cargo more than the commercial airlines not to lose stuff, so I relegated all the cool stuff to the shipment!).

I'll be putting up a "one-of-a-kind" gallery on the website in order to offer the unique khukuris I found while in Nepal. This little baby will be on the top of the list (although I will be sad to see this one go).

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Craig Gottlieb
Gurkha House
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Well, that one went to a "private investor," so I'll now be anxiously awaiting the upcoming shipment, which contains the other one-of-a-kinds.

Incidentally, I got these "specials" from TBs store room. He told me one night after dinner to go up there and enjoy myself. Enjoyment is an understatement. I got all sorts of interesting items that I'll be sharing with the group just as soon as they come in.
 
Craig, I really like the handle on this one, especially the metal trim on the butt-end. Any other khuks coming in with this kind of handle?
 
Steven: No. That's it. I do have more deer horn handles coming in, but they are of the standard "low brass" variety. I may wish to order some in the future, but for now, that is it.

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Craig Gottlieb
Gurkha House
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Craig, the white deer horn handle is from the Axis Deer(Cervis axis), right?

Harry
 
According to TB, it was deer horn (Sambar variety). Also had one of my retailers, a knife maker, look at it - his diagnosis independently confirmed TBs. What is "Axis Deer" anyway? (PS: It could possibly be that deer type, but I just go by what I'm told).

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Craig Gottlieb
Gurkha House
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Craig, Axis Deer or Chital or Spotted Deer(Cervis axis) is another species of deer whose antlers are sometimes used for small khukuri handles. Its considered the most beautiful of the 5 deer species present in Nepal. Big game hunters consider it to be a very nice trophy.

FNG, didn't know that this handle was Sambar, but looks very similar to Axis Deer horn in appearance.

Harry
 
Kozak: You know, it could very well be Axis despite what I heard from Dharan. They may have been nodding at the word "deer" rather than "sambar."

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Craig Gottlieb
Gurkha House
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Craig, my concern was with some of the materials used for khukuris, they might fall under the CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) which could blemish Gurkha House's rep if such things weren't handled in the correct way.

Harry
 
I share Harry's concern. And even if material from a threatened (or even borderline) species were somehow legally available, I don't think most forumites would want to go that route. I like to think that most forumites are ecologically responsible.
 
BTW, checking with the Canadian CITES office, I was able to determine that it is not a problem to import Axis Deer horn handled khukuris. Axis Deer are not on the list of endangered species, but an issue might be whether the antlers were obtained via a hunting permit or poached.

As an aside, it seems that the USA has a healthy population of these deer, some 56,000 or so according to a 1996 census. Other countries also have healthy populations.

Harry
 
Yeah, thanks for checking. Wouldn't want to encourage poaching. Frankly, though, TB doesn't get much of this horn. I'd seriously doubt that it was poached. TB tells me that he occasionally gets people bringing him ivory and asking him to make handles, and he says no exactly for the poaching reason. So I'd make an educated guess that he wouldn't buy poached deer horn. Besides, he's that kind of guy - very honest and forthright.

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Craig Gottlieb
Gurkha House
Blade Forums Sponsor
 
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