New member with a (translation) query
 

Hello everyone :)

I'm very new to blade weapons collection, and lurking in this forum for a couple of weeks now has certainly made my wife wonder why I stay up late at night with my laptop ;)

Reading the forum posts has been most useful to me to say the least. And I feel that I'm higher up the learning curve faster as a result. Admittedly though, there's still so much to learn ... which makes this pursuit even more interesting.

By the way, I'm from Manila (Philippines) and a couple of weeks ago, I must have picked up the last copy in the country of Bob Cato's book, Moro Swords. The book is still brand new, and I got it for a mere $16.00 (the original local selling price since about 10 yrs ago).

And having seen in the Internet how pricey Cato's book has become, hoping to make a quick buck ;) I searched the whole of Manila for more copies but it was in vain.

Now as regards my query, as a background there's a Maranao trader from whom I've already bought a couple of pieces, over the last four weeks -- a panabas, two kampilans, and a kris. I'll post pics of these later.

His other item I have yet to decide on is this barung which he said he suspects was from a juramentado. His conjecture he said is partly based on certain Arabic[?] scripts found on the MOP of the scabbard.

In this post are pics of the said barung with the scabbard. By the way, it's a pity that somebody heavily varnished the rattan binding of the scabbard, as well as the wooden hilt -- the weapon surely must have looked better if it was nearer its original condition.

And sorry that the pics are not that clear. It's just a cellphone camera I used.

Would anybody recognize the characters on the MOP? And would anybody have any idea as to what else can be surmised from a cursory inspection of this barung?

Thanks in advance!