Philippine? sword ID help please
 

Just picked this up off of ebay and could use some help in identifying its age and where it was made. Total length is 20 inches. I haven't received it yet so that's all the info I have. Thanks for any help that anyone can offer.

Robert

robert,
thats a Golok from Indonesia.
a nice one at that.
nice find.

Probably from Java. Age is hard to judge -- maybe early to mid-20th C.

Beauty. I've got a very similar one, with a lion (or tiger?) hilt (no dangler but there is a round hole behind the teeth); very similar carving, and with what I'm pretty sure is "1940" inlaid in brass in the blade (mind you the numerals ain't exactly standard, but I'm pretty sure that's what it says). Glad to see the sheath ;) The handle is on mine, as on another fairly similar, though somewhat less so, with an iron rivet (one is visibly an industrial waffle head nail) about 1 1/8" back from the blade. My lion hilt one has a wide(ish) and narrow groove, while the other is plain. Both have a tip and a humped cross-section reminiscent of nihon-to, though the blades start narrow, get wider, and one stays wide while the other tapers back down. Yes, there's a pic in my camera; yes, I will develop it soon :)

Mine are longer; blades of 19 and 20 inches. Sharpening begins after about 3", with a blunt, but wedge-section blade base. There is distal taper, but both are still fairly thick (about 1/8") at the tip; again similar to nihon-to, and to many other oceanic E Asian cutting swords.

Thanks everyone for your replies. Could any of you post pictures of your swords for comparison? Could someone also tell me how to tell the age of this type of weapon? Thanks again.

Robert

Does it have a rivet, like mine? This seems like a Western or Japanese influence, and though I don't know, the general presumption among collectors (a dangerous source of information if ever there was one!) is that this is a relatively modern feature. The carving is quite markedly similar to mine (and yes, pics, but by and by; think weeks), enough so that it is probably from the same period and same district/island; maybe even the same workshop.

Tom,
Yes, it does have a rivet or pin that holds the grip to the blade. If you look closely in the first picture you will see the hole about an inch and a half up from where the blade goes into the grip. Looking forward to seeing your pictures when you post them. I will post more detailed pictures as soon as my sword arrives.


Robert