Moro Kris

[Nonoy Tan]

A very good specimen of history!

[Battara]

Again what is great (besides the bling ) is the fact that you have great provenance with it.

[Spunjer]

That's one thing about moro weapons: tho we know each are custom made to an individual, we may never know the name of the original owner. Unlike the yataghans and some other middle eastern swords where the name of the original owner were somtimes found on the blade, it's not so with the moro stuff. There's only two other moro weapo
ns i've seen and read that could be attributed to the original owner: a dagger that was given by Datu Piang to Webb Hayes, and a kris that belonged to Datu Natangkup that's in the National Museum in the philippines, as mentioned on cato's book.
I do find the blade interesting in that if we go by what cato wrote, it's a mindanao blade...

[Battara]

There was also a lot of trade between Sulu and the Maguindanao............

[Spunjer]

That would have been my first impulse, jose, but i just find it hard to believe that all blades that are misplaced based on cato's categorization can be easily dismissed as a "traded blade."

[Battara]

Not saying all are trade blades but certainly there was trade between these areas. Note that for example Magindanao pieces do also have woven silver bands like the Sulu.

I also wonder if this could be a type of cross over of which Cato is not aware.

We certainly need more information than Cato provides. Wish Cecil would come out with his book...

I will say that the okir work on the blade and on the silver work does not appear to be Maguinanao or Maranao.

[David]

Originally Posted by Battara

I will say that the okir work on the blade and on the silver work does not appear to be Maguinanao or Maranao.

Frankly this is part of why i wondered if the silver work could be a later addition. That and the fact that the quality of the work does not seem up to the standard i would expect on an old presentation piece.