New Purchase: A tumbok lada

[HughChen]

Just purcahsed from an auction.

Comments, opinions and information invited.

[Athanase]

Very nice Tumbok lada from north Sumatra (Gayo ? ).
The scabbard is modern and no in traditionnal shape.

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by Athanase

Very nice Tumbok lada from north Sumatra (Gayo ? ).
The scabbard is modern and no in traditionnal shape.

Agreed! And I think that the gilding is also newly done/restored.

[A. G. Maisey]

My family background on my father's side is fine art cabinet making, & that inheritance goes back at least 5 generations. As a child & teenager, I learnt a lot about the intricacies of this craft, but when it came time to choose a career I chose a very different path. Still, throughout my life I have had friends who do still work as makers and restorers of high quality cabinet work.

One of my longest friendships was with a gentleman who has now passed, but at his best was reckoned to be the very best in his preferred division of fine art cabinet work. He did a lot of restoration & repair, some was early Australian Colonial, some was from English & European artists of bygone ages.

Something this man once said to me has stuck with me, & it has influenced the way I think about a lot of things, not only fine art cabinet work:-

"---craftsmen have always made items of various qualities, there has always been low quality rubbish produced, just because something is old that does not mean that it is worth putting time into it to return it to use. The age alone of something does not add value:- rubbish is always rubbish, and quality, even if made yesterday, is always quality ---"

I have paraphrased the above, I do not remember the precise words & their order, but what I have written is very definitely the message his words conveyed, and it is pretty much the measure that I apply to my collecting of sharp pointy things.

If I apply this concept to Hugh's dagger, based upon the photos posted, what I believe I am looking at is a relatively recent knife & scabbard, but with an old ivory hilt, I also believe that I am looking at an item of better than usual quality.

In brief, a good quality knife with recent blade & scabbard & a nice old ivory hilt, in my own opinion, totally worthy of collection.

[Interested Party]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

....what I believe I am looking at is a relatively recent knife & scabbard, but with an old ivory hilt, I also believe that I am looking at an item of better than usual quality.

Mr. Maisey I am not questioning your assessment, but I do have a question on what about the blade itself makes it look recent. What about the blades gives it away? Is it the profile or that the cleaning has not caused enough serrations in the blades as the acid ate away at the softer layers? Is it as recent as the sheath? For the blade what is recent?



The shrubbery on the blade and sheath complement each other whether or not they were made at similar times. To me the designs in the tendril and floral patterns seem to show what Van der Hoop in Indonesian Ornamental Design insinuated was a Chinese influence. The tendrils change from panel to panel. Some show clouds. The tumpals are interesting in that the tendrils almost become flames. On one side of the blades the tendrils are almost anthropomorphic. Hugh I really like the inlay on the blade.

Thanks for posting
-IP