OLD BARUNG 1

[kai]

Hello Ian,

The blade again may be older than the hilt and scabbard. The tortoise shell at the throat of the scabbard dates from about the 1960s and later, and the kakatua pommel also looks fairly recent. This could be a refit of an older blade, but it could also be entirely mid- to late-20th C.

Have you seen any 20th c. barung blades with these blotches? I've only seen them with well-balanced blades that I believe to older.

Seems I haven't been paying enough attention to the younger generations of barung: Wasn't the first appearance of these "modern" hilt styles as well as the ridged scabbard placed around the early 20th c. with later additional modifications and a continuing decline in quality around/after WW2?

Thanks for any update/correction!

Regards,
Kai