Two Very Good Datu Barongs, One With Shandigan Blade

[CharlesS]

Originally Posted by Spunjer

Yowza!!! excellent pieces, bro! pretty neat that the upper bands on the the ivory pommeled junggayan are made out of gold as well. the scabbard on the same barung looks to be newer though; notice the median ridge sticking out and the toe similar to those on the WW2 types. hey, as long as the blade fits, right?
they're definitely both Sulu, no doubt, but as far as tribal affiliation

congrats!!!

Spunjer,

I agree at first glance the scabbard appears like the WW2 era ones, and it may be. There is no doubt this scabbard was made for this blade.
The quality of this scabbard is not typical of WW2 era pieces which we tend to find broken and cracked quite often as they were made from a softer more easy to carve wood. The front panel of this scabbard is made from a hardwood with clearly flashing grains, really something I would more expect to see on an Indonesian keris.

I am not so confident about putting a date on it, but clearly it was attempt to create and upgraded, even exotic, look....especially compared to what we see in typical Moro barong scabbards and the wood that is used for some of them, most especially the later ones.