New Maguindanao Kris Form

[Battara]

Greetings folks!

I just picked up this Maguindanao kris on eBay. The seller says it came from a WWII vet stationed in the Philippines. Unfortunately that is all he will say and the vet died.

In any case this kris has a silver dot near the tip on both sides. The blade is laminated, but what is amazing is what I found:

1. the ganga is solid silver

2. the front under the ganga is made of inserted silver with a copper tongue

3. the hilt weighs about a pound by itself

4. the hilt is made of solid cast/chased orange swassa (9k), cast/chased/filigree yellow gold (10k+), and silver

The Maguindanao label is based in part on the blade, in part on the scabbard (which I will have to make a new one since this one is in pieces and missing some pieces). However this unique hilt has never been documented or seen as far as I know, except for something similar in the hands of none other than Datu Piang.

Enjoy.

[Battara]

Here is the picture of Datu Piang with his similar kris in his hand on the right side of the picture.

I reposted the hilt of my kris for comparison.

[Robert]

WOW!!!! That's about all I can say right now. By the way, you owe me a new keyboard, drooled so badly on my other one it shorted out.

Robert

[CharlesS]

Absolutely magnificent Battara! Saw it on Ebay and was afraid to take the plunge, but glad you did!

Looks like you have reset the hilt properly...it wasn't set correctly in the Ebay pics.

Oh my what a little polish and clean-up will do!!...it's an absolute treasure!

Karma, baby, karma!!!

[kino]

So you're the one with the deep pockets.
After all the polishing and etching, you underpaid considering the outcome.
Congrats on catching a nice sword.
It amazes me how you already have it and got it all spiffied up in such a short time.

Is the pommel wood or ivory under the silver?

[Battara]

Inside the hilt there is a small and narrow wood core. The rest is heavy swassa and gold. Solid - no plating as far as I can tell. Thus no ivory. As I said earlier there are remnants of small casting bubbles in the thick heavy swassa.

[moose]

Fantastic! Thanks for posting.

[kino]

Originally Posted by Battara

1. the ganga is solid silver
2. the front under the ganga is made of inserted silver with a copper .

Battara, I have a kris with similar characteristics as above. I wonder how common they were. Ibeam had posted a photo of his Kris with a copper(?) ganya. I wonder what purpose a non ferrous metal ganga serves; talismanic or just purely decorative?

[Battara]

Thank you so much folks. Your support after what happened to me this summer moves me. I thank you all.

Kino, that is a good question. I too think it is talismanic, but the meaning escapes me.

Spunger, I agree that the same craftsman who did this kris did Datu Piang's too. Another reason I am excited about this piece and the connection to Piang.

Just to be clear, the gold band that you circled is in fact both solid, chased, and filigreed - all the above. Also the section circled is also made of 2 parts, both solid. The large section of yellow gold is cast and chased, welded to the swassa. The other part is a band of yellow gold that is cast, chased, and filigreed, not welded but held in place with by wrapped silver wire.

Now as far as the sarimanok is concerned, I will study this further.

[Spunjer]

now moving on to the part i mentioned yesterday. clearly we're talking two different things. first of all you mentioned that you have not seen this type of kris before, hence me posting those pictures just above this post to show a handle that is similar type. now granted the example for comparison i've given is not gold, filigreed, chased, solid etc. but rather it's made out of ivory, but the point is, the overall design is similar: blunt front and blunt back

Originally Posted by Battara

Just to be clear, the gold band that you circled is in fact both solid, chased, and filigreed - all the above. Also the section circled is also made of 2 parts, both solid. The large section of yellow gold is cast and chased, welded to the swassa. The other part is a band of yellow gold that is cast, chased, and filigreed, not welded but held in place with by wrapped silver wire.

Now as far as the sarimanok is concerned, I will study this further.

now, going back to the part i encircled yesterday...
i can clearly see how your piece is made out of, jose. it's excellently ornated, but that's not what i'm saying. what i've done on the pictures provided is draw a line around the part i'm trying to describe. notice on both ivory pieces, the wing-like appendage is solid, not stylized. on your piece it's rather stylized, in ukkil fashion i might add, to the point they're feather like.

your piece solved the mystery of Datu Piang's kris, my friend. i've always wondered what's up with all those lines and wiggles. now we know it's a very blinged out pommel!!!

[CharlesS]

Spunjer,

Interesting comments all around. I think normally we look at blunted ivory pommels as potentially damaged. Perhaps we should be more careful in our examination.

Had I seen the one with a silver sleeve with no further explanation, I would instantly have assumed the hilt was more Malay than from the Philippines. That silver sleeve looks Malay through and though to me. Of course the blade would have to have something to do with it and it appears to have a Moro style cloth tassel. Is the okir work there exclusively Moro?

[Spunjer]

Originally Posted by CharlesS

Spunjer,


Had I seen the one with a silver sleeve with no further explanation, I would instantly have assumed the hilt was more Malay than from the Philippines. That silver sleeve looks Malay through and though to me. Of course the blade would have to have something to do with it and it appears to have a Moro style cloth tassel. Is the okir work there exclusively Moro?

charles, the kris in question is moro. here's a link to a full body shot:
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...miniature+kris