Balato with animal teeth for scabbard basket
 

I hope some of you balato lovers/experts can comment on my newly acquired balato here. The two things that attract me to it are the nice patina overall and it looked pretty old but the question is what kind of period are we seeing here? My guess is no more than late 19th centry or early 20th.

The main attraction to me is the basket. Although relatively small it consist of animal teeth making up the ball surrounding the rattan basket.I think they are wild boar teeth.

I'm hoping this is a genuine balato used by Nias Islanders and not one of those made for tourists. The rather crudely carved wooden hilt indicated to me this is not for tourist trade.

Can you post please close ups from the hilt and basket?

Regards,
Detlef

Detlef;

Here are a few more close-ups. Just ignore the yellow cloth that I used to hang the balato on the wall.

Looks like nylon was used to tie up the boar tusks(?) togather. So the item can not be that old unfortunately I'm afraid :confused:

Nylon could be used for repair, could be fishing line. Butit could also be organic material like a dried sinew or something like that. Hard to see on the picture

It could be fishing line like Henk said but it look like it has some good age, I would guess that your sword could be from 1930-1950. :shrug:

Regards,
Detlef