Finally Home - Mandaya Dagger And Nobility Barong
 

After 6 months of waiting, a Mandaya dagger that I asked Battara to restore is finally with me along with a nobility barong that I bought from him with a scabbard he expertly crafted for it. It was about a year in the making as well as the aforementioned 6 months of waiting before NZ customs released them to me. Here are the pictures.

Pictures of the Mandaya dagger with my Mandaya sword.

Group picture of my Mindanao daggers.

Pictures of the nobility barong with two of my other barongs.

This Mandaya dagger is the same dagger in this thread http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...hlight=mandaya

Nice little collection there. I also like the early wavy bladed gunong with great burled hilt (needs a little etch), and I like that barong with the horn/kamagong hilt and bone/ivory inlays (I always love the contrasts).

I am so glad you got your pieces and that you are happy with the work. :D

BTW - nice Mandaya sword as well - I like the hilt form, which is much better carved than my own.

Very good pieces! Congratulations! :)

Very nice pieces you have collected there! :) :cool:

Regards,
Detlef

That gunong was the first one in my collection and I was lucky to get it, with its early age, lovely wavy blade and exquisitely burled hilt. The barong has a kamagong hilt and ivory inlays and was the first nobility/datu barong I got.

You have always turned up excellent restoration work before Battara and I expected nothing less when I entrusted the Mandaya dagger and the scabbard work for the barong. The wait was all worth it. :)

Thanks, I love handling that sword. How old do you think the Mandaya sword is? I am guessing at least first quarter of the 20th century.

Thanks, I agree they are good pieces as well.

Yup, despite the difficulties with importing daggers I am still able to cobble up a few nice pieces. Thanks.

I would agree so far.

Beautiful pieces and wonderful restoration work both very much worth the wait. My congratulations.

Best,
Robert

late to the party...
 

Hello Algelan,

Congrats for those many excellent pieces and thanks for posting many pics!


I'd guess at 19th century. Very neat piece!

BTW, what date can be gleaned from the coins?

Have you tried to etch the blade?

Regards,
Kai

Thanks Robert.

Kai, the mandaya sword has one US occupation era 10 centavo silver Philippine coin dated 1904 on the reverse side . Another such coin was affixed (with glue?) to the other side but the date cannot be determined as it shows the obverse side (features a robed woman with a hammer hitting an anvil, smoking volcano on her left). I have tried etching the blade with vinegar but the laminations were wispy and scattered. It's great that you liked the pics. :)