Go on... show us your Barung!!!
 

i thought Andy Stevens thread regarding choora was most excellent, so i decided to create this one, in honor of the Barung. it would be fun to see the different barungs from everyone's collection. as we know, the variance between barungs are subtle, compared to the kris, but each one is individually unique and an art to its own. so here's a few from last year's family picture. the gasahs were added as props...
A) warrior's barung, with an unusual, fully intact carabao's horn ferrule
B) shandigan blade, with bold pile lamination pattern
C) from the Sama people, with a zulfikar engraved close to the handle
D) my first junggayan pommeled barung
E) kamagong with ivory inlays datu barung
F) big, chunky ivory hilted with gold ferrule barung
G) most excellent carved junggayan hilt with naga inlays on the blade
H) a junggayan handle barung, very chunky in design with shorter than usual ferrule compensated with a longer than average blade
I) chased ferruled barung with double edged blade
J) my very first barung, just an every day variation
K) an older piece, with a chopmark stamp on the blade
L) a real thick shandigan blade, with an unusual handle design

Wow very beautiful mate! Too bad I have non to share :-)

Ah what the heck! I don't have as many but I have 3:

top: fossil mastodon pommel and silver sleeve

middle: ivory pommel with silver sleeve and swassa ferrule

bottom: wood with ivory inlay pommel, silver braided and chased, brass sleeve

Wow! Just wow!

I have only two. The first is Sulu, the second one was brought at the battle of Bud Dajo.
Paolo

I always thought that handles with the carved box-like "beak" of the kakatua pommel appeared in the 1930s. At least, that's what I read here from the Moro gurus. If so, the inscription dated 1907 might be a little suspect. Am I totally wrong?

jose, always loved your ivory pieces! rare indeed, that fossilized handle you have! when i grow up, i'd love to own one like that!!!
@paolo two excellent pieces you have! the silver covered handle is incredible!
@ariel, regarding the appendage: that's what cato proposed, among other things, but more and more, there are plenty that have the same appendages with strong provenance dating back at the turn of the century.
added couple pictures. the barung below was brought back around 1900-1901 by Webb Hayes (the tip broke off, but you could still see it). on the second pic, please note the two gentlemen at the back, second and third from the right (or is it left, lol). second seated from the left is Datu Unga, Tausug warrior extraordinaire. hard to see, but i can assure you his barung has the same appendage. picure was taken early 1900's.
what concerns me more about paolo's other barung is the date given. 1st battle of Bud Dajo was March 5-8, 1906, while the second one was in 1911. on the first battle, i could see someone getting confused with the days, but how can anyone forget the year? :shrug:

Here are my favorites.

Michael

Yowza! on the first one, have you ever thought about re-seating the blade? love the simple, yet elegant lines on that bottom piece! i've never seen that big, chunky ivory handled one! thanks for sharing

Hello,

by all this beautiful examples I am almost a little bit shamed to show my two simple barung. The smaller one with not original sheat (is it matching?). Both are Samal in my humble opinion.

Regards,

Detlef

OK, you guys are all giving me Barung envy. It's the one type of blade that i truly want, but have yet to find the right example for me. Some real unusual examples here. Just beautiful.... :)

sajen, nothing wrong with your examples! thanks for posting them. i wish everyone would post their barungs, even the WW2 ones, not just the blingy ones!!!

Thank you for your kind words! :)
Do you think that the sheath is matching with the barung from style?

Regards,

Detlef

Nt ....

i can't tell you either way, sajen... if you refer back to the picture of the datus above, you will notice that the one standing on the far left appears to have a similar type handle like the one that you have. he's most likely Tausug..
rick, the smaller one: is it the one with with buckshots (or something like that) stuffed in the ferrule??? thanks for posting..

even none blingy ones welcome eh? Well, here goes. :shrug:

here's most of my barungs in my humble collection ...

An excellent gathering guys. Love those silver hilted examples.
Here are some of mine.

Fantastic Post, Beautiful blades!

Three simple ones. Old photos, they are much cleaner now.

Roy

Here are a few more. (Sajen - 'simple' barung are just as beautiful)

OMG, so beautiful examples, thank you all for sharing. Loedjoe thank you for your kind words! :)

Here pictures from the lamination of my bigger barong.

wow, excellent barungs! loedjoe, welcome to the forum, and thanks for posting your pieces. you should post more often ;)
sajen, that's one heck of a lamination you got!!!

please keep it coming, guys!!!

I only have one nice one.
Steve

thanks, ferguson! that's a beautiful junggayan. my question is: does the peg on the repaired part goes all the way? first time i've seen it repaired like that...

No, I think it just repairs a bad spot in the wood. Not sure how deep it is.
Thanks,
Steve

Awesome blades guys. Does this one count? :p Only "Barung", I have. Could have been done by a native, or GI. Or could've been done by a Japanese. They were on some of the islands for so long, some of them, "Went native".

Nice temper line .

Very nice, trenchwarfare! I love cross-cultural pieces. They're always very inventive.

Ron, for years ago I had a pira with a similar peg like ferguson's barungpommel.
That peg went all the way.

Maurice

These pieces make want to get back into ethnographic blades. I too, like the marriage of the barung hilt, to the tanto blade. I once saw a katana, that was re-hilted in Africa, with a decorated scabbard. Would love to know the story behind that one.

A recently acquired Samal (Or is it Yakan?) piece. Massive 46cm blade (18 in), silver punto, silver hilt wrapping.

Anyone have any other examples of this type of hilt weaving on a Barung?

I was watching this one. Congratulations. Nice piece and although I have seen this type of weaving before on a barong, usually it is in brass and not silver. Extensive silver.

Wow, Amazing Thread, Amazing Pieces, Guys! Thanks for sharing!

I found this ~3 weeks ago. Just had the opportunity to photograph it.
Blade length is 19.5"
The Barung with the lighter background belongs to a friend. Apologies for the poor image. I took a photo of a paper photograph.

Unlike Battara, all I've seen with wire wraps in this fashion were silver.

Just bought this WWII area barong because something appealed my eyes by this one.

My Samal barung...

Here are my barong beyond the 2 in http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=15389.

#3 is 565g, about 6mm thick near the hilt. Cuts very nicely. The grip is wrapped in cord (hemp?), going over part of the metal fittings. What sins might it hide?

#4 is 610g, about 6.5mm thick near the hilt. Blade has broad fuller (or should I call it hollow-forged?). Seems like a very heavy hilt. Just cleaned this yesterday; it was a little dirty when I got it (very recently).

The scabbard is in poor shape, with lots of splits in the wood along the grain, and the two halves mostly separate. But nothing missing, so just the kind of thing that would be "traditionally" fixed by wrapping with black electrical tape. A less Western solution would be rattan or hemp cord. Would need to lacquer (or some suitable glue). Is there any traditional of fabric wrapping?

Is #5 a barong? The blade has an asymmetric profile - the left side is flat, and the right side is convex. The blade is thin; just over 5mm at the hilt, but within a few centimetres, it thins to about 4.5mm.

Congrats, Timo - interesting acquisitions!

I'd posit that all warrant etching and close-ups posted in seperate, dedicated threads.

Is that cord or fabric? Cord wrappings over the silver sleeve a very common to enhance the grip. Looks like a good, antique warrior piece to me and close-ups may tell wether any work needs to be done.

That's a shandigan blade (the wear may indicate quite a bit of age). Neat scabbard and hilt - I like it!

Rattan would be the way to go if really needed. Any wooden pins remaining or traces of these? A careful restoration should help to preserve this scabbard.

No. Visayan and looks pretty recent (post WW2).

Regards,
Kai

Cord. The cord has something gluey slathered over it; also the blade end of the hilt has the same "glue". Looks (and feels) like dirty grey-brown PVA glue.

It needs something, at least at the throat, since there are 6 long splits in the wood along the grain, about 1/3 - 1/2 of the length of the scabbard. The back (i.e., the part where the back of the blade sits) is the worst. Tight strapping, especially with glue/lacquer will hold it.

I can't see any pins, wooden or metal, just two pieces of wood. Hidden pins? Considering that the two halves are separate along most of the blade edge, and a past modern regluing attempt has come loose, it would be good glue holding the ends of the scabbard together with no pins at all. But I can't see any.

It clearly isn't a Moro barong. But as a taxonomic question: when is a barong-like thing a barong, and when is it not a barong?