Quote:
Originally Posted by Rick
Hi Ian,
Yes I have a kris with this style of decoration. There's a picture of it somewhere in the archives. It's not a toy but a serviceable weapon, yet it seems like something made to catch the eye of 'those who travel for pleasure'. There is no subtlety in its decoration, and it seems a bit coarser compared to older Moro swords.
My guess on the era of these design elements would be the 1920s to the early 1950s. ... I have also noticed about these examples is that they lack the pointy curves that we see so often in later Moro work.
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Thanks Rick. Agree on all of those points. The decorative skill seems lacking compared with the twist core elements or silver inlay work seen on other Moro blades.
I have an unmounted kris blade with similar decoration but it does not have a separate
gangya, suggesting mid-20th C work. I've also seen a
panabas blade so decorated, and on the
kampilan shown above. So the style got around a bit.
Here is another
budiak with similar decoration, said to be Sulu in origin, that I found on the web.
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