A Maranao Kris

[Spunjer]

my latest acquisition: a maranao kris from the 19th century. what amazes me about this piece is the completeness and the condition that it's in. i guess a definite advantage having been passed on from not too many people.
this particular piece was originally acquired by John J. Snyder, an officer in the US Navy during the Phil-Am war. it stayed with his family all these years, and it appears to be it has been stored properly.
there were some rust which i removed. other than that, that was it. there are some dark spots which i decided to leave.
as far as the kris is concerned:
the scabbard is definitely original with sword. not quite sure what type of material was used, but the crosspiece was darkened with some type of native dye. as i was trying to clean it off with warm water and soap, it looks like it was coming off, so i just left it as it is, and applied renaissance wax. a curious addition that i don't normally see on moro scabbard is a piece of carabao horn to decorate the tip of the scabbard, or per indonesian keris terminology, the buntot. given that the main body of the scabbard is made out of light colored wood, it gives off a very nice visual contrast.
now, the kris:

what can i say; it's a freakin' work of art. starting at the pommel, it's made out of silver. i doubt it's solid: most likely wood, then covered with silver. the handle itself comprised of swaasa rings broken up by thinner rings made out of filigreed silver rings. closest to the pommel is a collar made out of swaasa as well.
a single silver baka-baka decorated with Maranao okir clamps to the blade.

the blade:
one of the finest i've ever owned. whoever made this was one talented panday. i just love the way he made the wide part closest to the handle where one normally sees an incised arrow, out of twistcore bar. twistcore runs almost all the way to the tip. one thing i notice: as oppose to most sulu twistcore, this one doesn't have a naga okir on the tip. must be some tribal preference... the gangya is laminated, and it appears the edge are laminated as well. overall, in a true maranao fashion, this baby is heavy!

attached are close up for your enjoyment!

[Ian]

Gorgeous kris Ron! Lovely blade and exquisite silver and gold hilt. Definitely a sword for a man of distinction. Congratulations on a great find.

I was wondering, looking at the blade, whether this sword might have started its existence to the south of the Philippines. The wide straight blade with deep fullers is unusual for a Moro piece. Also, the toe of the scabbard. Just reminds me of some that we have seen before that likely came from what is now N. Borneo/Malaysia. Just a thought.

Do you think the blade might be older than 19th C.? It would be unusually heavy for an earlier Moro piece.

Again, congrats on an excellent piece.

Ian

[Rick]

Oh my!!!

[CharlesS]

Great piece Ron. I love the crisp fullering and matching twistcore...so bold and consistent!

Great get! Congrats!

[DaveS]

Fantastic blade!!!!!!!!. About as good as it can get.......Dave.

[kai]

Congrats, Ron, another gorgeous catch - the blade and the hilt are amazing!

You mention that it is heavy: How does the blade feel when swinging it?

I don't think the blade is much older than the Phil.-Am. war period; this will - in addition to proper storage - also figure into the nice preservation...

I note that the clamp doesn't seem to be attached to the hilt; any ideas why the craftsmanship also looks a bit subpar?

While the horn buntut is a nice touch, the scabbard quality does not match this kris IMHO, especially considering the wood and carving/finish. It might be a replacement ordered for a battle pick-up. Any notable wear visible inside?

Regards,
Kai

[kai]

Hello Ian,

I was wondering, looking at the blade, whether this sword might have started its existence to the south of the Philippines. The wide straight blade with deep fullers is unusual for a Moro piece. Also, the toe of the scabbard. Just reminds me of some that we have seen before that likely came from what is now N. Borneo/Malaysia. Just a thought.

I have yet to see any reasonably provenanced blades like this from Sabah or thereabouts.

However, there is a family of keris sundang blades from the Malay peninsula which shares quite a few of these features. IMVHO, this blade does not exhibit any clear Malay features while the base does seem consistent with a Moro and more specifically Maranao origin as already noted by Ron.

Regards,
Kai

[Spunjer]

thanks all! for once, Facebook was good for something in regards to acquiring this piece

I was wondering, looking at the blade, whether this sword might have started its existence to the south of the Philippines. The wide straight blade with deep fullers is unusual for a Moro piece. Also, the toe of the scabbard. Just reminds me of some that we have seen before that likely came from what is now N. Borneo/Malaysia. Just a thought. Do you think the blade might be older than 19th C.? It would be unusually heavy for an earlier Moro piece.

i'm kinda thinking in the same line of thought, Ian, in regards to having some influence from farther south. a possibility would be whoever originally owned this was a transplant, or has traveled extensively down south. enough anyways to influence the style of the blade.
as far as age, i'm with Kai that the blade was most likely made around late 19th century, but of course, we can never know for sure.

You mention that it is heavy: How does the blade feel when swinging it?

it's balance, if that's what you want to know, but you could definitely feel some heft to it.

I note that the clamp doesn't seem to be attached to the hilt; any ideas why the craftsmanship also looks a bit subpar?

it's an optical illusion. the clamp was made to look like it's not connected. my thinking is, it was made that way so it won't look sloppy had it been wrapped with a strip of metal and tucked inside the handle. instead, what the panday did was soldered an L-shaped bracket under the clamp and slid it under the handle. slick, huh? notice the space under the clamp...

as far as the scabbard. i highly doubt this was a battle field pick up, given the condition it's in. i think it's just one of those Moro weapon idiosyncrasy: there's that one part in the whole ensemble that does not jive. the whole focus on this particular kris is on the handle and blade, so to show it off, it has to be out of the scabbard...

[drac2k]

So did the Genie give you one wish or do you have another one as well ?
There is nothing that I can say that hasn't been said except thanks for sharing that magnificent sword with us !

[mariusgmioc]

Thank you for this magnificent example!