Unusual Kampilan

[MaharlikaTimawa]

This may be the first Visayan Kampilan I've come across (if this really is visayan made).

[Ian]

The swords shown by VANDOO in posts #17, 18 display a recent style of Moro work coming from the Lake Lanao (Maranao) region of Mindanao. This highly curved, almost "rococo," decoration started to appear on the market in the 1990s (as best I can determine) and a number of Filipino dealers point to a handful of Moro craftsmen in the Lake Lanao region as producing them. The finish is good on the wood elements (probably made from kumagong,which is a very hard wood) and for that reason I think they are interesting and collectable. The blades, however, are fairly ordinary and almost always mono-steel. Similar fittings can also be found on recently made kris and barung.

Ian.

[MaharlikaTimawa]

Originally Posted by Ian

The swords shown by VANDOO in posts #17, 18 display a recent style of Moro work coming from the Lake Lanao (Maranao) region of Mindanao. This highly curved, almost "rococo," decoration started to appear on the market in the 1990s (as best I can determine) and a number of Filipino dealers point to a handful of Moro craftsmen in the Lake Lanao region as producing them. The finish is good on the wood elements (probably made from kumagong,which is a very hard wood) and for that reason I think they are interesting and collectable. The blades, however, are fairly ordinary and almost always mono-steel. Similar fittings can also be found on recently made kris and barung.

Ian.

I believe the Kampilan posted by Carlos however is of Visayan origin. I am not sure if this is a tourist made one or a kampilan from a time before the coming of the Americans (or maybe even Spanish) but from what many people have pointed out, this might be the first visayan kampilan I and probably many others have come across of. Assuming of course this is an antique and not a some kind of tourist piece usually seen in southern Luzon.