Lew Waldman's Ethnographic Arms & Armour Collection Archive


184 - Indonesian Golok Machete, circa 1900

This golok machete features a 16½ inch long single edged blade, the back of which tapers from a thickness of about ¼ inch to 0.15 inches an inch back from the tip. The back is very slightly convex while the cutting edge is concave near the hilt and then convex for its distal two thirds. A pair of nearly parallel narrow fullers are inscribed along the back of each blade face and end with a flourish at the start of an about 1¾ inch ricasso (unsharpened base of the blade). The hilt appears to have been carved from dark brown to green horn and may represent a very stylized bird's head. The dark wooden scabbard is bound by three now loose bands of rattan. Overall sheathed length is 20½ inches with a weight of just over 25 ounces.




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