Garab/Talibong with deity hilt

[JeffS]

Originally Posted by David

It is interesting that this blade seems to have even more of an exaggerated angled bend to it that the usual ones.
I do note that the pommel figure has fangs, so i would say more likely it represents a demon rather than a god.

David, this severe angle of bend is seen in what we have been calling garab from eastern Visayas and, as I understand, is more common on older blades (late 19C to early 20C). It is a bit of a name game with this style of deep belly acutely pointed Visayan blades - talibong, garab or more generally sundang. Picture below shows it with the "classic" garab with eared pommel. I haven't seen anything comprehensive on the Filipino mythology entities, from what I read the stories differ widely geographically but with some common characters. I don't think they fall into god/demon categories like in Balinese hilts. This one is quite distinctive and of a style I havent seen, it does look quite diabolical with that fanged grin stretched into a top knot (or hat?) and vertically oriented eyes. Would love to learn more.