Africans or dayak bronze hilted swords ?

[Marius66]

Hello guys,

The seller told me these were two african small swords with bronze hilts
But scabbards and the blade looks something ''indonesian ''to me or reminds me dayak swords blades.

Heavy models,
One seems to have a brass hilt
Get them for a cheap price but I have to clean them, they were covered with mud ...

[David]

Well, they are certainly not African, but they aren't Dayak either. I believe these come from the Philippines, more specifically Bagobo culture. One might consider them a form of Bagobo kampilan.

[Ian]

Hello Marius,

As David has noted, these are from the southern Philippines. More specifically, they both come from the T'boli people of Cotobato Province in Mindanao. They are neighbors to several Lumad tribes (including the Bagobo and B'laan) as well as Maguindanao Muslims.

Your example with the knuckle guard is probably of relatively recent manufacture, post-1970, while the other one is likely older. The scabbards are of typical T'boli shape; many have incised carvings of geometric shapes and are often wrapped in ikat (patterned woven fabric) for which the T'boli are famous.

There are others on this forum who specialize in T'boli cultural artifacts and can give you more detailed information. You will find more about your swords by searching this Forum for other threads related to them. The T"boli call these swords tok or kafilan. The blades of these swords are generally very well forged, with good temper and hardened edge. You can see evidence of edge hardening in your pictures.

These swords have some market value, so you may have made a good deal. Although we don't dicuss prices on the forum, you may PM people to gauge their current value.

[Marius66]

Thank's a lot for your messages and detailled answers !!
I read that these blades were often laminated,
I will try to see if that is the case and post pictures.

Kind regards

[David]

Originally Posted by Ian

More specifically, they both come from the T'boli people of Cotobato Province in Mindanao. They are neighbors to several Lumad tribes (including the Bagobo and B'laan) as well as Maguindanao Muslims.

Marius, just to confirm, since varying answers can be sometimes be confusing and you might be wondering what is the actually correct answer, i believe Ian's answer of T'boli is probably the correct one. I was actually trying to remember the name of that tribe when i answered and only Bagobo, which shares some resemblance to these T'boli blades, came to mind.

[Ian]

David, I may have been a little hasty in saying both of these are T'boli. The one with the knuckle bow certainly is. The slightly shorter one has a hilt that might be Bagobo or B'laan. It is not the typical T'boli form. Both hilts appear to be cast from brass.

Similarly, the larger scabbard is typically T'boli. The other one could be T'boli but might be Bagobo or B'laan too. The "tubes" protruding from the end of the scabbard are found on several Lumad scabbards. The shorter scabbard is otherwise rather non-descript with regard to which group it may have come from.

[JeffS]

The one without the guard is Bagobo with a very nicely cast hilt and great scabbard. Nice score. The blade should etch nicely. I like the T'boli scabbard too.

[David]

Originally Posted by Ian

David, I may have been a little hasty in saying both of these are T'boli. The one with the knuckle bow certainly is. The slightly shorter one has a hilt that might be Bagobo or B'laan. It is not the typical T'boli form. Both hilts appear to be cast from brass.

Similarly, the larger scabbard is typically T'boli. The other one could be T'boli but might be Bagobo or B'laan too. The "tubes" protruding from the end of the scabbard are found on several Lumad scabbards. The shorter scabbard is otherwise rather non-descript with regard to which group it may have come from.

Thanks Ian. These are just slightly outside my field of collection, though i do find them interesting and worthy of study. Nice to know i wasn't too far off.