klewang golok ??????????????

[Ian]

Hello Semar:

Thank you for posting this interesting and challenging example.

i have not seen one exactly similar to this, but it seems to be either Indonesian or perhaps from the Philippines.

The D-guard is reminiscent of the Malay parang nabur and of the southern Luzon minasbad, but is clearly different from those two in several respects--most notably the triangular, fan-shaped pommel.

In imagining the hilt without the D-guard it reminds me somewhat of the Timor hilts, types a and b, that appear in Albert van Zonneveld's book Traditional Weapons of the Indonesian Archipelago (pp 137-138). In particular, the triangular pommel and an "eye" or "rosette" are present on your sword. The Timor hilts (as are those on the minasbad) are made from carabao horn, and yours appears to be made of horn also.

On none of the swords I have mentioned have I seen, either personally or in pictures, a fluted grip as shown on yours. Also, the blade type is inconsistent with a parang nabur although maybe a possibility for a minasbad, while Timor swords have a variety of blades, including parang, pedang, and klewang styles.

If pushed to make some estimation of where this is from, I would say it is either an adaptation of the hilt seen on Timor swords or an indigenous sword from the eastern part of the Indonesian archipelago, of a type not present in van Zonneveld's book.

Perhaps our Belgium-Dutch-German forumites have more information on this one.

Ian.