Barung from Baltimore

[CharlesS]

Originally Posted by David

Iskender, this has been a question amongst collectors for a long time now. I am not sure if you have travelled to the Philippines or not, but it is difficult to tell exactly what is "original condition" of blades once they have left their native lands. Western collectors often polish blades because it is the way THEY think they should be treated. So i am personally uncertain what the general rule of thumb was for the Moro. If you search there are, unfortunately, very few photographs that show Moro warriors with their blades exposed. This is one of the few images i can find online and while the quality of the image is not that good it does seem apparent that this datu is not holding a kris that is in high polish.

This kriss has clearly been (heavily) etched. The etching has exposed the tempered edges and the silver inlay towards the forte(and perhaps down the blade...hard to tell). Certainly a fuller has become more obvious. Also note that the baca-baca have been heavily polished to accentuate them against the dark etch. This photo has intrigued me for some time because it shows a blade that is far more heavily etched than we may consider the Moro norm. It's really almost more in line with an Indonesian etch, but no doubt done to highlight its other embellishments. It really makes me wonder if Moro blades might encompass the spectrum of bright to dark, depending on the bladesmith or the owner's desires.

[kino]

Ho Spunjer, Amazing work, job well done all around!
Pretty gutsy using silver polish on Ivory, I've never heard of it.
Thanks for sharing.