Moro Kris ebay

[Battara]

Greetings folks!

One or two dealers have told me in the past year that Moro has plateaued and interest has dropped. Although low end and perhaps some mid-range pieces have plateaued, this ebay Moro kris makes me question this assumption.

It just went for $1177. The pommel is wood, the hilt bands are silver and woven rattan, and the baka-baka are steel and silver.

Here are the pictures.

Enjoy!

[Amuk Murugul]

Hullo everybody!

Some of the bidders were prepared to bid higher than they would normally because they felt that they could 'see' a twist-core in the making.

Best,

[kino]

I placed what I thought was a high bid but got left in the dust rubbing my eyes in awe of the closing bid
I like this Kris with the double fuller. I wonder if the steel clamp is a replacement, it's just constructed and attached in a different manner than the silver one.

[Spunjer]

amuk, that would be an expensive gamble, lol.
Al, I don't think it is. the patina around the asang2x appears to be correct. also the clamp that hold it appears to be original. if it was a replacement, it must have been done a long time ago.
what was the item number on this?

[mross]

Yeah, I had what I thought was a high bid but did not win. I think it is a very nice kris and would of loved to add it to my collection. However unless the pictures are really bad I do not see a twist core in there.

Item #321095356329

[Battara]

Originally Posted by mross

However unless the pictures are really bad I do not see a twist core in there.

I'm with you - I did not see a twist core in this. Is this the reason it went for so much do you think, a twist core blade possibility?

[Gustav]

I cannot imagine somebody had an expectation this could be a twistcore blade looking at this picture.

[Spunjer]

i was reading the description on this particular kris. the seller mentioned about a gold dot on one side of the blade. perhaps this was the reason??? i also noticed that there were a total of ten people that bid on this (of course, there were probably bidders that had their sniper set); but still, nowhere near the number of bidders bidding on moro stuff a few years ago. i wonder if*the interest is really waning. even here in the forum, the discussion on moro pieces is not as active like before.*

[Battara]

Originally Posted by Spunjer

i was reading the description on this particular kris. the seller mentioned about a gold dot on one side of the blade. perhaps this was the reason??? i also noticed that there were a total of ten people that bid on this (of course, there were probably bidders that had their sniper set); but still, nowhere near the number of bidders bidding on moro stuff a few years ago. i wonder if*the interest is really waning. even here in the forum, the discussion on moro pieces is not as active like before.*

This is possible, although I think part of the problem is that a lot of the good Moro stuff has dried up - hence, little talk on the forum. I have not seen a lot of really good Moro stuff in the past few years.

But on this other part, maybe there is something to it. Don't know. Of course, as the economy picks up in the Philippines, more money will be placed onto Philippine weaponry (beginning to start already) and I expect more drying up of Moro stuff and prices in a few years to go up.

Still surprised that this piece got up so high. For me this still flies in the face of what we have said so far.

[Spunjer]

the pieces are out there... just not too many collectors are letting go of it. without any "fresh" pieces being circulated, fewer people posts.
what i meant on my previous post was, whenever someone post a moro piece, you have probably 4 or 5 same suspects discussing it.
now we got a catch-22: no one's making comment, so again, i reckon, people are less inclined to post

[kai]

Hello Jose,

Nice kris - I do like the blade, neat work! Definitely not twistcore as pointed out by Gustav and others already. I wouldn't place high hopes on the goldish spot either...

One or two dealers have told me in the past year that Moro has plateaued and interest has dropped.

I don't think that the interest has dropped - aside from the more seasoned collectors with sizable collections who may have become somewhat selective, I still do see quite a few "newcomers" here and elsewhere. IMHO the general economic situation may be limiting the lower end market at the moment but I continue to see all sorts of Moro pieces priced pretty high on many dealers' websites.

I'm also with you that (despite continued interest in the traditional collecting communities) interest in the countries of origin is going to rise more and more in the future.

The pommel is wood, the hilt bands are silver and woven rattan, and the baka-baka are steel and silver.

That looks very much like a brass asang-asang to me?

I'm with Albert that the upper one from steel looks like a replacement: it's of rather thin material and lesser craftmanship; also the brass strip attaching it looks like somewhat later work (placed on top the silver bands and older braided twine under the rattan). However, like Ron, I believe both to be genuine Moro replacements and already in use for considerable time before this piece got "collected"...

Regards,
Kai

[VANDOO]

PERHAPS THE PRICE IS HIGH BECAUSE THIS IS AN OLDER FORM OF KRIS.? THEY DON'T SHOW UP AS OFTEN AS THE LARGER ,NEWER ONES. I HAVE SEEN QUITE A FEW OF THE LATTER MORO KRIS GO CHEAP LATELY. THE ONES I BID ON ALWAYS GO HIGH AND TO OTHERS, I SHOULD CHARGE A COMISSION FOR STIRRING UP THE BIDS
GOOD POINTS:THIS KRIS MAY HAVE A FEW MORE LUKS THAN USUAL FOR ITS AGE, I COUNT 13 AND THE FILE WORK ON THE BLADE IS WELL DONE, CRISP AND DEEP.
BAD POINTS :THE FINISH ON THE BLADE IS NOT GOOD AND THERE IS DAMMAGE TO THE COCATOOA. THE SCABBARD IS TRASHED WITH NO CARVING. THERE IS NO PATTEREN IN THE BLADE AND IT NEEDS CLEANED AND ETCHED.
CONSIDERING THE CONDITION AND LACK OF EXCEPTIONAL FEATURES OR FIRM PROVENANCE I THINK IT WENT MUCH TOO HIGH. BUT IF THE PERSON WHO GOT IT HAD BEEN LOOKING FOR ONE FOR 40 YEARS OR NEEDED IT TO FILL IN A SPACE IN HIS COLLECTION THEN NO DOUBT HE WILL BE HAPPY WITH IT SO I WISH THEM WELL.

[Sajen]

I was also one of the bidders and agree with Barry that it went high like this because it is an older blade. But personally I was surprised that it reached such a prize with a broken scabbard. But without doubt it is a nice blade and the overall patina is very nice and it is a kris with a nice tribal repair (asang-asang replacement).

Regards,

Detlef

[Robert]

The price on this was a real shocker to me as well. I had been watching this to see if I might have a chance of sneaking in a bid at the end when things started to go way beyond what I had in mind of bidding.

Best,
Robert

[Battara]

Originally Posted by kai

IMHO the general economic situation may be limiting the lower end market at the moment but I continue to see all sorts of Moro pieces priced pretty high on many dealers' websites.

Good point Kai, I forgot about the global economy.....

That looks very much like a brass asang-asang to me?

To my eye the one asang-asang is tarnished silver, matching the tarnished silver bands on the hilt.