Moro Bugis Sewar
 

Picked these up today, and i believe one of the three is a Moro from the Phillipines, The Sewar with ivory hilt is from Sumatra Minangkabau and has a laminated blade, this one is in perfect condition, The Bugis Keris at least i think its a Bugis is missing its cup and the buntut on the scabbard. I would like to know more about the Bugis and the Moro hope some can give me some information about it.

Regards, Martin

Hi Pendita65,

The "Moro" kris you show is in Melayu dress. It is missing any asang asang (stirrup) to clamp the gangya and blade together. The multifaceted hilt is consistent with Melayu hilts and the end of the scabbard, with its inverted "V" cut out, is also typical of Melayu work, although the gap would be filled with a dark wood for the toe of the scabbard. The blade is probably of Malayan manufacture but might be a trade blade from Sulu.

Thank you for the info Ian,

do you have any pictures of how the foot would have looked like? And yes i thought allready it was missing the stirrup for Ganya and blade.


regards, Martin

Nice purchases. I would love to see the sewar blade as well:)

Hi Pendita65. Here is an example of the Melayu scabbard style for a keris. The wood at the toe is a light color. Ebony is more usual I believe.
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Thanks Ian,

i will make one from Ebony i guess it would look good for it.

Regards, Martin

Here is the Sewar out of it's housing.

Hi Martin,

I personally would use black horn for it, it's more common. ;)

Regards,
Detlef

Hi Martin and Ian,

The Malay kris may never have any asang asang, many Malay kris don't have any clamps. But the hilt missing a cup in down I guess.

Regards,
Detlef

The keris looks very Maly to my eyes, it's not a clearly Bugis keris IMVHO.

Hi Detlef,

thank you for your message, and yes i allready found out that it would be a Malay Keris. For the other Keris i can't see if there was ever been a cup underneath, the hilt is square and has chamfered sides, would the cup be square too? I didn't took the hilt from the keris. And i hope someone is able to show me several pics how the asang asang is connected to the keris.

Regards, Martin

And you might be right Detlef, for using black horn for the tip of the scabbard.

Completely agree Detlef.

Hi Detlef,

i know the Malay keris never had an asang asang, i was refering to the Moro style keris for the asang asang. And I know that the Malay keris needs a good cup under the Hulu or Hilt.

Regards, Martin

Hi Martin,

Yes, the cup will be square too. ;)

Regards,
Detlef

Well, there are perhaps Moro blades too dressed as Malay Sundang, but there are also genuine Malay Sundang with Asang-Asang. May be it's true for a later period, but to say, Malay Sundang never had Asang-Asang - that's simply wrong.

Hi Martin,

I've written "kris" and I mean the sundang with this term. Many Malay sundang don't have clamps. Can you see any signs that there had been a clamp (asang-asang) before?
For your Malay "keris" I am maybe able to help, I have some pendokok assembled. Would need the diameter of the handle. We speak about this by mail! ;)

Regards,
Detlef

Hello Gustav,

I've written: The Malay kris may never have any asang asang, many Malay kris don't have any clamps. But the hilt missing a cup in down I guess.

And I've shown pics from older threads to show which cup could be missing and there are Malay sundangs with and without "asang-asang".
I never claimed that Malay sundangs never had asang-asang. ;)

Regards,
Detlef

Hello Detlef,

Understood. I was confused by the word "never".

Regards,
Gustav

No problem Gustav! :)

Agree completely with you. There are typical Malayan sundang with asang asang/baka baka. I think that is what Detlef was also saying.