Large Junggayan Kris
 

Greetings folks!

I got this back in March at the Louisville Military Show of Shows.

Here are pictures of how it was when I got it. It was missing some of the back tail decor, the nose, and a silver band.

She's a beauty! Somehow I feel restoration pics are soon to follow. :D

I always enjoy seeing you work your magic, Jose.

Here are pictures of the fully restored piece. I did the replacement silver band, the scabbard, and took the rust off and etched the blade.

What was amazing is that Maggie, who restores ivory, did the missing ivory parts, and refitted the tail which was poorly glued. She did amazing work!

Enjoy!

Speechless. That large fissure in the back of the kakatua has completely dissapeared. and the "beak" looks to be incorporated just as seamlessly.

Compliments to you and Maggie.

Beautiful work. What wood did you use for the scabbard?

That ivory restoration is just fantastic!

Beautiful piece, thanks alot for sharing mate!

Good work on the restoration.
What is the dimension of the Kakatua, looks big.
Great find.

Wowowee! She's come a long way since the last time i saw her!!! Great resto job on the pommel!

Thank you folks.

As far as the scabbard is concerned, it is made of stained walnut.

The kakatua pommel is 3 7/8 inches wide and 8 inches long from nose to tail.

That thing is huge!!
When it comes to Ivory Kakatua's....size does matter.

Yeah Kino you're not kidding. That is why I took the risk of getting this in bad condition - I saw a diamond in the rough. :D

Also it has a plate of silver on the back of the ganga.

I really like the ivory work. and of all things the sheath is beautiful as well. great wood work!

Hello Jose,

wow, what a beauty! And a perfect restauration! I hope that I will own such a nice kris one day. :)
Am I correct that it is a Maranao blade?

Regards,

Detlef

You are close. Actually I think it is the tribe next door: Maguindanao.

Besides they too had junggayan pommels as well as the Sulu.

Hullo Battara,
What makes you think it's a Maguindanao blade? According to Cato's definition, your blade is the classic Maranao type: jaw jutting underneath the "beak". I thought the Maguindanao has a more open beak perpendicular to the top part of the gangya. Or are you basing it on something else?

A good question. The documented Maranao blades I have seen do have some "jutting" out of the bottom of the ganga, but the "elephant" section of the ganga does not have an "eye" and are a little larger, whereas the documented Maguindanao ones I have seen have an "eye" and do not stand as tall as the Maranao and the top of the "trunk" has deeper cuts than those of the Maranao.

Small subtleties not mentioned in Cato but there nevertheless.

Difficult to tell the difference since they are next door neighbors and very similar in style. Also according to Cato the Maranao did not use the junggayan style of pommel for their kris but instead did more chasing of okir motifs on their metal bands on their hilts.

Wow, it turned out fantastic Jose! You and Maggie did a amazing job! Thanks for sharing! Always interesting to see what is possible!!!

I WAS ALONG WHEN THIS WAS AQUIRED AND AM HAPPY TO SEE SUCH A FINE RESTORATION. NOW SHE IS ALL DECKED OUT AND IN A GOOD HOME.

I have to say that that is a beautiful kris, Battara! Maybe one day I will own one likr that.
What about the possibility that those documented blades you have seen were traded blades?

I'm re-reading Cato's book, and hereare his descriptions:

Maranao:

"The type that is distinctly Maranao begins with an elongated trunk. The mouth cavity, while still present, is quite narrow, and the lower jaw runs parallel to the guard. While the Sulu, Maguindanao and crossover forms of elephant's head/trunk motif display concave cavities beneath the lower jaw, the Maranao configuration does not. Instead a substantial protrusion juts out from beneath it."

here's the Maguindanao description:

"The type that is uniquely Maguindanao is similar to the Sulu version, to the point of being easily mistaken for it"

and this:

"The Maguindanao style, like the Sulu, exhibits an elliptical elephant's mouth that is still somewhat pointed on the innermost end."

Also, nowhere in the book does it says the Maranaos did not use these type of hilts, but rather, "Flamboyant junggayan-type were not popular with the Maranaos... the pommels of their ceremonial krises were generally confined to the standard kakatua profile." I would take this statement that there's a possibility the Maranaos did use these type of pommel on their Ceremonial krises.

Not trying to be in disagreement, Battara, just confused on how these krises are classified. On some threads, whenever it doesn't fit Cato's classification, it's classified as "traded".

Hello Jose,

have the same thoughts as Jazz! :) :shrug:

Regards,

Detlef

Maranao blade w/ huge Junggayan Ivory
 

Check Cato's book. If not mistaken 1st or 2nd page ivory junggayan kris and barong. A good example of seems to be of Maranao blade from Dave and Lonna's collections.

There is always the possibility of a trade blade since trade was common.

I will recheck and consider the points you make.

I have re-examined the "elephant" section of the ganga on this sword and it has a slight elliptical form to it even though the lines beneath it are straight. According to Cato this makes it more of a Maguindanao rather than a Maranao blade.

However there is a style that is not mentioned in Cato that I have noticed in documented pieces and pieces that in scabbard form (according to Cato) are Maguindanao. This form is what I call the "eagle" form and is distinct from the "elephant" form (note: there are a number of details and things that not mentioned in Cato, for example, gunongs).

Here are some pictures of 2 Maguindanao pieces - notice the the "eagle" form of which I speak. I also had another one like the silver hilted one with a nearly identical back and front of the ganga that was brought back from a GI when he was in Maguindanao country in WWII (I will admit that my piece on top does look a little more Maranao than the other one).

never was a big fan of categorizing these blades; it makes everything static. there's just too many variations to make a conclusion that a particular elephant's head and trunk design is a surefire indicator of what tribe the kris came from. what everyone seems to forget is that these were mere hypothesis put forth by cato, nothing concrete. but for the sake of this thread:
here's a close up of that silver pommeled kris, and based on cato's classification this is suppose to be Maguindanao. i believe this is what he meant by elliptical...

now let's compare that with a junggayan pommeled kris with the same elephant's head and trunk design per Jazz's post:

Jose, you mentioned:
so here's a junggayan that has the jutting jaw,and to top it all, it doesn't have an eye. now if we go by cato's classification once again this particular kris is a classic Maranao, and the one above is Maguindanao. incidentally the so called Maranao is much larger than the Maguindanao.

Admit it Ron, you just wanted to show your beautiful kris off :p

Yeah, Ron .. :D :p

Anyway, I was wondering about the cohesiveness of the Mindanao and the Sulu Moro groups over the centuries .

I'm somewhat aware of the Iranun role as slavers for Sulu, still; would most blades be exchanged through trade or capture ?

Is this something we can only guess at ?

hah! wait til i post this archaic kris i was working on last night and found out it has a round tang, pepperskull...

IMHO, Rick, i wouldn't say most, but i'm sure there were trades. i'm with you that at this point the most we can do is guess. as far as cato's classification, they're mere guidelines at best.
gotta go to work. will elaborate later... :)

And this is a very apt example for this thread because this is another nice restoration with that entire tail section newly carved and added on to complete this junggayan. A great job there. :)

Thanks Ron for the back up (and for once again showing us some of your toys).

I also agree that these are not hard rules but guidelines given by Cato.

I was with Battara when he was trying to decide about buying this piece. Then, there was a lot of hand wringing debating the decision....now there's a lot of hand clapping!!!

Congrats! :D

true dat. really, it's so nice how it finally came out...


yes sir! can't thank you enough for the head's up on this particular piece!!!

You are so welcome Ron and thanks for your and Charles' input when I was getting this piece.

Never thought I would ever get one of these (until I was maybe eighty! :eek: ).

As a few of you know I pray over my weaponry, what God wants me to get, and I felt that God was suggesting that I take the risk on this one. God was right (and I listened! :D).

Well I just couldn't stand it. I had to remake the top band and in Maguindanao fashion.

Enjoy.

Ok, ok. I can obsessive sometimes.

I also couldn't stand that silver band. So I made yet another band, more Maguindanao than the last one. Plus I found the other part of the braided silver band and did something I was not sure would work - I soldered the ends of the other half of the top band. It worked and now there is one missing woven band restored. Also all the bands are now tighter and not wobbly!

I am done restoring this piece, but am more satisfied with this last attempt.

Enjoy (finally).