Strange ball-guard dagger

[button_man]

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Just got this yesterday at the flea...... stacked-leather handle..... small brass (possibly bronze) spheres as guards, and brass (or bronze) pommel. (The disc separating the handle from the pommel appears to be leather also.)

OAL = exactly 12 inches. No markings at all. Unfortunately no sheath either. Double edge dagger blade.

Showed it to several people, and although nobody has
a clue, speculation was all over the place. India. Africa. Spain. Egypt. Philippines.

Google Lens couldn't find any sort of match.

In my admittedly limited experience, I haven’t seen the stacked-leather handle outside of North America and western Europe. In an arid climate like Egypt, the leather would dessicate; in a tropical climate, it would rot.

Also, the precise length of one foot hints at America
or UK origin. But those "ball guards" seem very strange.

I would greatly appreciate informed insights into this unusual piece! Thanks guys!
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[button_man]

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This is the closest match I could find for those guards.
Not exactly the same, but fairly close. The age seems reasonably close also. Late 1800s to World War I.
Possibly World War II but that seems a stretch.

Interesting that this is presented as a (possible) combat weapon, because my knife almost certainly is.
It's not constructed like an industrial knife intended for a slaughterhouse. The knife was made for killing people.

Still long on conjecture and short on hard facts.....
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