VOC marked pedang

[Jim McDougall]

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...+comprehensive

I agree entirely with David, the VOC marking here seems a bit off, and we do need better and more comprehensive photos to offer more detailed opinions.
I think it is important to note that while the Dutch East Indies Company seems to have been fairly consistent in their manner of marking blades with their trademark VOC, the variation in this example does not suggest it simply being an older version.

As I have noted before in discussing this topic (attached thread) the weapons of these regions are far outside my regular fields of study. However what I have learned is that this VOC marking seems to have held a degree of talismanic value for these regional peoples, and applying it to blades would have been somewhat expected. As Alan Maisey noted in one of his entries, he had little doubt that indiginous smiths produced VOC marked blades with this in mind.

In this case, the mark seems out of character for the usual VOC version, and authentic marks typical had the kamer (six chambers of the VOC) marked above, as well as the typically seen year placed laterally on the blade.

As blades were of course commonly remounted, the disparity between the age of the blade and its dress would not be unusual.

These images of authentic VOC blades illustrate the character and configuration noted, the first with majescule 'A' (Amsterdam, the most commonly seen); the next with 'M' (Middelburg)...........the other chambers were Delft, Rotterdam, Enkhuisen, and Hoorn.