Hi,
I would like to know if there are collectors who has also mandau's with a face on the grip.
on the pics below two very old examples one is in my own collection and the other sadly not (yet?)
the one with the rattan stick along the scabbard is a very old type and could be dating from around 1850-1880.
the other one is also very old and I think dating around 1880-1900.
note the very nice carved faces.Tromp who was a resident in Borneo was interested in mandaugrips and so he almost the only one as far as I know who has written an article about them.
He mentioned that the faced grip was quite common in his day's (1880)
and he mentioned that they ( the dayak) had sometimes an uncarved model.
indeed I could find plenty models in the museum with a face ( however not many like the pics here) but only a few 2-3 uncarved models.
also it seems that however the facemodel was widespread they are hard to find nowadays.
Arjan.