Old talibong
 

The second one in my collection. I find it unusual that this talibong is engraved and with a date stamp of "1896".

It's a nice one and the first I've seen which is dated at the blade. I've seen them dated on the scabbard before.

Regards,
Detlef

Here you can see a few more: http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...light=talibong

Thanks for the redirect Detlef!

Interesting blade; something about the profile reminds me more of a pinuti- Cebu rather than Leyte/Samar. Also the first time I've seen the date engraved on the blade.

I concur.

The blade profile is that of a Cebuano pinuti. But a lovely specimen of an early one. Congrats!

I agree and it is uncommon to see this type of floral blade engravings (though some even have brass inlay).

Thank you for the insights! Perhaps this is an old Pinuti from Cebu rather than a talibong from Samar?

Oh I think tailbong came from Cebu too.

Thank you for the clarification. To be honest, I am confused about the pinuti and talibong.

Hope you don't mind me correcting... "talibong" term actually isn't endemic in Leyte/Samar. The Waray call their battle blades as "sundang" and their utility ones as "bolo." While there's been info in this forum that the rattan-wrapped, thumb-indented, heavy-bellied bolo used to be called "garab," the Filipino Traditional Blades research group is still gathering data on the ground for the actual name of that weapon. They believe that there's a more specific term for that blade that's endemic to the Waray-speaking areas.

This has been the case for Cebuano 'pinuti,' which FTB researched to have different variants with specific blade profiles and other defining features - lawi-lawi, tinamban, lawihan, etc which can be traced back to antique samples as well.

Thank you. This is good information.

Cool. Is there a way to view this research?

Yes, it's in the entries of the Filipino Traditional Blades page on Facebook... you'll just have to use the search bar there or browse the past entries, they've discussed and shown samples of pinuti variants extensively.

Yes, using "pinuti" as a search term brought up dozens of examples. Great resource!
As an aside, I find the similarity between "lawi-lawi" and the Formosa Atayal sword name "lau-lau" or "law-law" interesting. The link between Taiwan and Philippines has been discussed here before but usually in comparison of the open face scabbard design to the Ifaguo hinalung/pinahig. However the acute point, broad belly, and ring ferrule features of many pinuti do match many mountain Formosa blades (though they typically do not have straight spines). I've also seen talibong scabbards that closely match the Atayal scabbard in profile with the flared "fish tail" foot.

Seconding this. Sundang is to Waray as Pinuti is to Cebuano.

Jokhro and Xas,

Thanks for clarifying some of these terms again. Trying to peel away the layers of terminology, not to mention mistakes that have been propagated for decades, is impossible from outside the host culture. That's why groups such as FTB, who conduct their research at ground level and post their information freely, are so valuable to collectors here.

Sharing information in this way, some of which has been held closely within the original communities, is the essence of scholarship and learning. It also helps sustain interest in traditional Filipino weapons and their production by local panday.

Yes, i concure with what xasterix said. A lot of terms that are still being used in this forum are pretty much debunked. A couple pages on Fb are pretty much the go to site on any Moro/Filipino weapons.
To be brutally honest, anything Moro/Filipino in this website was a great intro a long time ago; but nowadays it's more misleading than anything else. As they say in the Philippines, "Sayang!"

I thank you for the updated correction Xasterix.

Maraming Salamat! :)