I was wondering, what about triple silver crowns?

I have no clue about the meaning / status, but here are 2 examples :

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...silver+rencong

Best regards,
Willem

Me too. What I can say that in the first picture in this thread there are two that are silver and never have been gilded.

I think gilded silver has to do with the amount of money available - the would have liked to have gold but did not have the money.

The two I have may have a different cultural/ethnic background. The one with ivory is Gajo (Gayo) for certain the other is probably as well from that region (use of suassa and colour of the sheath hint at that.

I think in Aceh the use of silver was frowned upon - this might have been different in the Gayo area. The one with ivory seems a ritual or status piece and is very big in size - not very practical to wear or handle I think for the regular length of people then and there.

Regards, Erik

Hi Erik,

I must say that the silver handle from Battara (in the link above) shows much less detail than similar handles in gold. So besides the lack of money maybe this silver rentjong is also from a later date ? (no offense intended, just imho)

Best regards,
Willem

The one does not have to exclude the other :) I still think it is a money question but next to this these type of rentjongs were produced at least into the 40s for ceremonial use like on weddings etc from what I know. Wear still limited to those allowed by adat.

The silver handle I have has great detail - inlay with enamal in good quality and a diamond on top. That is late 19th or early 20th century IMHO. It is the second one in the link mentioned.

OH Asomotif, no offense taken. I would not be surprised if it were later. Perhaps a wedding rencong from an adjacent place. No idea. Guess I just want to know where my silver one would be in the pecking order of things since obviously the gold crowns signify at least high nobility.

Have another question regarding gold crowned rencong:

Are the scabbards supposed to have 2 gold bands on them?

I have never seen gold bands, many silver and some suasa.
But I think it will be possible.

You can find some other examples on:
http://www.atchin.nl/Atchin/Atjeh_wa.../Rentjong.html

Thank you Jonno. Great site - yes I have seen one with suassa and several with silver. One gold crowned rencong on the site had 4 silver bands on it!

Very helpful.

Hi,

In my experience the sheath is supposed to have no bands at all! They are repairs for sheaths that have problems. But repairs are quite common. The material used says something about the importance they gave to the repair is my opinion.

Regards, Erik

Erik that too is helpful and less expensive! :D

Hello everyone, this is my first post. :D Thought I'd share with you a picture of my old Rencong.

This is a family heirloom which was given to me by my late grandfather. According to him this rencong was forged during the early 1950's by a famous Rencong maker back in the day.

As I'm sure many of you here know, there are various types of Rencong in Aceh, each with its own distinctive characteristics. This particular piece belongs to the Meucunggek class, reserved for royalties, nobilities and other distinguished groups of people. My grandfather was a highly decorated provincial chief of Police in Aceh and thus was awarded this Rencong as a symbol of gratitude by the Aceh people.

It's hilt and scabbard are made of ivory, while the blade itself is made from a material known locally as 'besi putih' or white iron/steel (correct me if I'm wrong) said to have supernatural properties :) . The hilt is decorated with about 10 grams of 20 carat gold which adds to the overall value of this finely crafted work of art. :D

As rencong forging is dying art, you're unlikely to find many rencong of this caliber nowadays.

Hope I'm off to a good start. :)

Welcome to the forums . :)

Nice piece and thank you for sharing your great family heirloom. :D

Welcome to our little forum!

Welcome to the forum - it's great to receive any input from the peoples from whom these pieces actually originate!

Any chance to research his name? Your inherited rencong does look like what I associate with post-WW2 work, indeed. Quality seems to be nice though!

Has the blade always been kept shiny like this? Any idea/hints wether the blade is laminated and/or tempered?

If possible, please post close-up pics of the base of the blade as well as the base and tip of the hilt - I'd really love to have a detailed look at the style of the decorations! Also a pic of the blade taken directly from above (to avoid distortions) would be great! Thanks a lot in advance!


Utami used to post here and showed some recently crafted pieces. AFAIK, he lost contact with the noted bladesmith after the tsunami desaster... :(


Definitely. :) Thanks again!

Regards,
Kai

Erik, it is in the depot. :) (collection Bronbeek, Museum)

Found this one on the website of the Wereldmuseum collection nr 20121.
drewl, drewl :p

So far I know is "besi putih" a steel with very high nickel content or pure nickel.

Regards,

Detlef

Sorry wrong post.

I also didn't have my camera, but happily a cellphone with full battery. :)

This rare beauty sold at an auctionhouse. Would like to add it to thi sthread just for later reference.
Akar Bahar (black coral) hilt with gold and enamel

Best regards,
Willem

fantastic piece of "black coral" :eek:
I'm crazy for it ... as well as almost all divers :p

before, I had never seen such big branch
it's really "a rare beauty" ;)

à +

Dom

Here is my crowned rencong with black coral:

I believe this thread was started to investigate the crowns on aceh weapons.
So to stick with the topic i have this Siwai that is in the "Wereldmuseum" at Rotterdam. The hilt is a really huge piece of akar bahar.

Ps. there are no sizes mentioned, but this one is in the exposition of the museum and believe me. it is huge. easily twice the diameter of a rentjong hilt.

A nice one!

It's interesting that the Aceh and Gayo daggers come in so many sizes for each model.

Michael

Today I found a variation of the rentjong hilt that I did not see before.
At the Gemeente Museum Den Haag.
(The Museum where President Obama went to see Mondriaan's "Victory Boogie Woogie" ;) )

I can not recall another hilt with such a heartshaped decoration.
A gold strip goes all around the hilt.

What an interesting variation. And gold and enameled all around the strap. I also noticed the coral is polished as well.

Thanks for posting this.

Yes, it looks indeed like akar bahar in a very smooth finish.
Here a enlargement of the previous picture.

Best regards,
Willem

I would rather have had it in my hands to determine the material :D ;)
But it indeed looks like polished akar bahar.
Here is an enlargement of the previou picture :

Looks like akar bahar to me......

I'm with Jose on the pommel being from polished AB.

Thanks for another great example, Willem!

The "heart" looks like another variant of the tree of life motif.

Regards,
Kai

Happily gathering pictures I remembered this variation.
I am not sure where it was taken, the website says "Tropenmuseum" (Amsterdam)

I photo edited the pictures to better see them. Notice on the rounded one that there are concentric circles indicative of coral.

Here is a siwar that was sold by Michael Backman. He states that it belonged to a sultan. The gold mounts have gems on them and the hilt is black coral and the scabbard tip is ivory. Silver bands are go down the scabbard and the top piece is also ivory.

I also included the picture Michael Backman provided of Sultan Muhammad Daud Syah Johan Berdaulat with a similar sitar for context.

Not to hog this thread, but here is my sikim and close ups of the crown.

Nice, looks a lot like the one in post #10 ;)

It does, don't it?

This one was sold today by 1300 Euro in a german auctionhouse! I think gold, suassa and silver, unsure about the stones.

Great piece Detlef, thank you for posting this. I agree: I see low gold, suassa, and silver. The stones do look like cabochon rubies, but close ups (if available) would help determine what they really are for sure.

Now the crown: on the one hand it looks like it could be old dirty low carat gold, but hard to determine for sure. If gold, then it would be low carat to have patina like this on it.

By the way, what is the name of the German auction house?

Sorry, this have been the only pictures posted. :shrug: