Curious Moro blade

[zelbone]

I have to disagree with you, Ian. I've handled this sword and I seriously doubt that the blade was manufactured outside the Philippines. There are other Moro swords besides the kampilan, kris, barung, panabas, pira, bangkung, janap, and gayang. Most swords were made on a custom basis and the original owner probably had this particular one made to fit his fighting style. In fact, to me it handles better than your typical barung.

I see where your coming from of the similarities to swords from Sumbawa with the narrow neck feature. It may be a rarity on a Moro sword, but isn't unheard of among other Filipino swords. There are several narrow necked swords found all across the Philippine archipeligo. Some of these include the plamanko, certain sansibars, binakokos, a few Batangas espadas, a type of bolo from Bicol, and those ubiquitous "talibons" from Leyte and Samar. Here are a few narrow necked sundang from the Philippines to compare to.