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thnx a lot for all your replies!
I knew about the US' involvement in WWII but not so much before that period. Nevertheless these stories make it more interesting and give " life" to the barong. That is for me |
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Watch n'The Real Glory' 1939 -Gary Cooper, available on Amazon Prime Video in the USA or on DailyMotion Read up on Pershing and the Moro 'insurrection' which had been going on whhen the spanish were there, and continued when the USA took over. About half the Datu & tribes were pro-USA & fought the other half with us. Not our finest hour. Pershing stopped the insurrection by killing everyone who rebelled, men, women, children, livestock, and bvurning their villages. It was a brutal war. |
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Sharing a recent acquisition from a retired Yakan military personnel in Basilan. 70s Yakan barung and matching sundang.
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Hi Xas,
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Given that modern makers seem to allow for quite a bit of room regarding shapes and flow of lines, I'd be inclined to tag both as (modern) barung blades... Regards, Kai |
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If you look closely, the blade profile is different than that of a fighting blade. The bottom one is used for utility :) That blade is called "manuk-manuk" or simply "sundang" among the Yakan. Very useful in the farm or jungle. |
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Here are my 4 barongs:
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I don't think things 'were pacified' with the Muslim tribes in the southern Philippines until the mid-late thirties pre-war with the advent of Japanese invasion.
The sporadic violence still continues to this day. An acquaintance of mine's son was murdered on a diving trip in the area a couple of years ago. :eek: |
Couple of months ago there were 3 barungs offered by a respectable auction house. Two were very handsome, and went for ~$1,500 ( as far as I remember).
The third one was very simple and even had no scabbard. But it has a yellowed paper glued to the blade with genuinely old inscription: " Barong of the savage Moro. Taken from the Mag sabil devil Mahamet by Scout at Parang (a town on the main island of Sulu)and given to Sgt. Brewster, 1907". Nobody bid on it, even though its expected price was $1,000 and starting price much lower. Well, some people collect esthetically pleasing pieces. And that's fine. But I kind of cannot understand why would they pass on a true piece of history.... I sent the address to Ian: I am not good manipulating images; hopefully he can give us an idea of what a true killing barung looked like. |
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And they apparently won: in 2014 they signed a peace agreement with the central government and their elected government is planned to be established in 2022. What social/political course will it take is still unknown, but a big cause for concern for the entire SE Asia. |
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The blade is approximat4ly 18.5 inches in length, which was fairly long for the period. It is clearly a cutting and a stabbing weapon. The hilt has a minimal kakatua pommel that is found on many fighting barung. . |
Thanks Ian!
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Quite apart from the long time practice of piracy in the South China Sea, the Bangsamoro region has always been a tense and dangerous area for outsiders. The local politics are diverse, with internal conflicts, but are unified in opposition to outside interference. The struggle for self rule has played out for centuries, with increasing emphasis in the last 120 years and especially since WWII. |
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Got this barung from Mr Cecil Quirino's collection. My oldest barung so far. It's remarkably well-preserved. It's highly similar to the Leiden barung that was discussed in an old topic here. I fixed the misaligned blade and bent edge; other than that, it's in very good condition.
18-in blade with sandigan/shandigan edge, kamagong hilt, carabao horn pommel, a long ferrule with some sort of brass alloy. |
New acquisition
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After etching the blade slightly. Unluckily one of the MOP-pieces is missing. I needed to add the top 4 cm of the rattan on the scabbard. I very happy with this find.
Best Thomas |
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I had been looking for the right barong for a couple of years, a few months back I finally found one. The blade was very rusty but cleaned up nice outside of some pitting. The ferule is very thick silver. Below is a more recent purchase.
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Nice barungs, gentlemen! It still amazes me just how many variants and personal effects barungs can have through the different eras and locations in the Sulu archipelago.
It's almost been a year, so I'm necro'ing this thread again :D here's my all-time favorite barung, a variant with an upper clipped edge. It is WW2-era, and I reset it just recently. |
'Dyak' Barung
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Forget to add this one from northern Borneo, fullered and decorated blade
Others at the Barung with fullers thread. |
Hello Wayne,
I realise that you put 'Dyak' in quotes but for future reference we should clarify here that these barung originate from Moro expat communities on the northern coasts of Borneo and are not culturally associated with any of the Dayak ethnic groups. I believe that most of these variant examples originate from Kota Belud which has been a blade making center supplying probably all of Sabah's western coast (and, considering the short distance, not surprising to show up in major ports like Kota Kinabalu). One might also note that Kota Belud is really close to Palawan, too. Regards, Kai |
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Attached are the sales pics from my example, which I bought about 2.5 years ago. Blade length 42 cm. The scabbard is missing a bit at the top and is split in a few places.
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A couple more have sprouted up since my last photo... Thanks to Kino for the great new addition.
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Adding 3 more Barung’s to the thread.
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The 3 in my collection.
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