What's your Avatar?
 

Just for fun, let's describe our Avatars.

Mine is a Thai temple guardian. :cool: Mark had used this one originally, and I coveted it. When he changed, I grabbed it. :)

Large Nineteenth Century Nepalese kukri with two forged fullers (dui chirra). One of my all-time favorites :) .

Semar, the clown from the Wayang .
He acts the fool but is wise and powerful . :D

Mine the Hilt off an very rare pakayun

I love the look of that khukri Berkley...Himalayan Imports have a replica model don't they?

My avatar is a nice Sudanese arm dagger, one of my new favourite blades. :D

Mine, is one of the Warriors from a 'Benin bronze'.....decorative and symbollic bronze plaques that were attached to the walls of the King's Palace. A facinating culture.....often overlooked.

This particular 'individual' stood out ......a character I could relate to :)

.....And no I do not have a dis-proportional sized head :D :rolleyes: :p

Mine is a statuette from the tribe of congo. My ex-girlfriend told me that in his expression she sometimes saw my expression :o

Mine is a shoulder-part of winged horseman armor :)

Mine is an old Wayang golek puppet with a moustache. I especially like it because it also wears a keris in its belt.

A Burmese "bilu" (ogre), from a dha scabbard. The decoration on the sword itself shows the story of Princess Bedayi, or Bedi, in which an ogress named Sandamukhi figures, but there doesn't seem to be an ogre in the story, so I'm not sure why he's on the scabbard. There is an ogress at the same position on the opposite side of the scabbard, at any rate.

Mine is an image taken off a shell cameo from the Austral Islands. This back to back figure adorns many artifacts from the Islands which are among the most isolated and only really visited by whalers in the 19th century. I can find many other examples but nothing about what they actually are. Some others to look at.

Mine is a handle of a klewang from Palembang, Sumatra (see van Z pict 263).
I think it resembles a cock's comb which I found appropriate because some of my friends sometimes find me cocky.

Michael

Mine is the sword of my great great great great great grandfather.

Supposed to be a Tibetan monk shoulder or leg ball joint, carved.

Not perfectly sure it is Tibetan, but it is human. The doctor who replaced my knee and my chiropracter both agree on this. :D

I got to tell you Bill; that baby gives me the willies for some reason. :eek: :D

Avatar
 

Mine is a cheap Indian Tulwar. <hangs head in embassassment> :o

Reminds me of a quote, "He is a shiver looking for a spine to run up."

The Tibetans used a lot of human bones. They wanted to uinderscore the tramsient nature of life. You often find masks with five skulls across the top, like points on a crown. This signnifies the deaths of the five senses.

The Tibetans used to make me nervous. Now I get more "willies" from the Aghora.

But perhaps we should not digress for fear of the thread bing hijacked into extraneous topics. I am interested in the other avatars. I am enjoying knowing more about the people here!

Mine is a grouping of shamshir intended to illustrate the difference in blade curvature between earlier examples(top two blades are probably 17th century) and later examples(middle blade is 18th century and bottom two are 19th century).

A primordial wootz rose.

Jeff

Time to start a thread about that one! :cool:

I second that!! 7 generations, must have some good storytellin'.

Mine is the shichishito, the famous seven-pronged sword forged in Korea (or possibly China) in the 4th century, and sent as a gift to Japan.

Whoops! I went one "great" too many. Just great x 4 grandfather. :shrug:

Mine, a Bugis keris hilt, (in the 'kerdas' form). Made from ivory with carved floral and vegitative motifs. The brass ferrule (pendokok) is a 2-piece construction.

This hilt is also known as a Garuda hilt form. Garuda is the king of the birds and the mount of Vishnu. He is the enemy of the serpents and is associated with the all-consuming sun's rays, he symbolizes protection.

It has and 'endless knot' symbol and a ' garuda mungkur' on the back. On its chest, there is "Allah' carved in arabic.

[ More pictures here ]

Within this single hilt, there are a few symbols derived from animism, hinduism, buddhism and islamic influences. Hmmm...

hussars sabre
 

Mine is a fine example of Polish hussars sabre, in most classical form and shape, made at the end of 17th century by Lviv (Lvov) Ormians. I had a thread devoted to this sabre many months ago, but just to remind you this beautiful sabre, I put one picture below.

The top section of a dagger hilt, Nayaka period, South Indian (around 1600)

Mine's the hilt of a 17th c. Spanish cup-hilt rapier, formerly in the (late) Army Museum in Madrid. Filed and chiselled steel. A truly fine exemplar of its kind.

Mine is the hilt of a knife. But which kind of knife? A Khanjarli of course!

I DID WONDER ABOUT SOME OF THE AVATARS SO THE POST IS INTERESTING AND ELINGHTENING.

BUT ALAS! I HAVE NO AVATAR "AVATARS FOR THE POOR"!! :D

Barry, if you have a picture you want to use; email it to me and I'll resize it and post it for you .

Rick