The blade was made in Birmingham, England by Robert Mole & Sons, but the leather scabbard (sheath?) is almost certainly local to Trinidad, as the grip may well be. I haven't done any research, but will inna next day or so; the Steamer Brand & Registration No. ought to yield something interesting: note that the 2-stack steamer appears to be a side-wheeler. (last pic). The blade is ~16" long, overall length is ~23"; the blade tang ends just above the wire wrapping. The machete weighs ~650 grams. Thanks for lookin'! EDIT: From Wikipedia: In the English-speaking Caribbean, Robert Mole & Sons of Birmingham, England, was long considered the manufacturer of agricultural cutlasses of the best quality. Some Robert Mole blades survive as souvenirs of travelers to Trinidad, Jamaica, and, less commonly, St. Lucia. From Bladeforums: Mole registered the Steamer Trade Mark in 1886 and used it up to 1st November 1920 when Martindale's bought Mole and disposed of 'Swords and Sword patterns of Robert Mole to Wilkinson Sword Company for £500'. Martindales continue to use the 'Steamer' mark on Machetes alongside the Crocodile (registered 1876), 'Snake' mark (registered 1876) of S&J Kitchin who they bought out in 1957.
Looks like a fairly heavy "bushwhacker", but then when converted, doesn't seem that heavy at 1.433 lbs!!! Then again, I'm not carrying & swinging it around, either!!
A guess would be that the intended use was the harvesting of sugar cane. Heavy enough, when properly sharp.
My friends of Jamaican heritage would call this a cutlass. Some of the old bwoys - (accent needed here) still use them. I saw similar in use on Barbados: we did a bush walk and our excellent guide used his to bash branches out of the way. He also neatly threw it into a coconut palm and thus harvested said fruit. Cutlass was then used to slice it. I think it's basically the Caribbean equivalent of a Swiss Army knife, tbh.
