Being very busy it has been difficult to get back to the forum. That being said he offered the information as another piece of the puzzle to consider. Sometimes later generations will get the information confused from stories told by the veterans. Not too shocking. I think it was nice that the other person tried to give some help to this inquiry.
As far as origins are concerned, I would not be shocked if this were Maranao since this was a favorite of theirs. What does give me some pause are the wonderful tiger bells. I would love to own one with tiger bells. Not too common and a very nice piece. Even the scabbard carving is of good quality. I agree with Ron in that the great value of this is the completeness of the piece. It is rare for these to have scabbards, much less well carved scabbards intact. Then the bells are an added bonus. I don't remember where Camp Vickers was located in relation to Maranao or Maguindanao territory (of the Battle of Pandapatan). Perhaps this would be a good place to start.
Although the blade does not look to be the typical type of blade usually seen in Moro kampilans, this does not preclude it necessarily from being from Mindanao. We are still learning from examples like this one.
I have a fossil molar barong for example. Fossil molar is rare on Moro pieces and only seen on kris. Yet my example has traits of being Samal and is the only one documented (by me). It is the only one in existence so far. I have learned some new things from this piece.
I know that your piece will shed light one some other things regarding this type of piece.
Before you send it off (if you do) would you post pictures of the piece in it's entirety?
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