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Originally Posted by Bill
....But I have also seen a high % of talismanic blades with what appears to be tang replacements.
Could this blade be made this way deliberately? Some of the work looks like it was sawed/filed in a straight line/box; while some (like yours) are rather uneven (made in the forging process?). The tang being made of some metal of spiritual value (old sword, etc) & being added to the new sword; an old Jin, you might say?
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I think Bill had the right idea already in this early post with adding metal of spiritual value (combined with all the other talismanic features).
But it doesn't need to be from another kris. It wasn't that unusual for instance to do a Haj to Mecca. If somebody had brought with them pieces of metal from Kabah I assume that the proper place to put it, as a talisman or amulet, was just below the ganya.
It could also be from some other, spiritually charged metal, maybe from somebody with saint-status (
wali) ? Similar to the Malay concept of
keramat or the Indonesian
sakti? The charged metal could also have been from the same source and later ceremonially been divided among the panglimas or datus within the same sultanate?
In more Northern part of the Philippines I know of such ceremonies among brothers in arms taking place even today.
Michael