Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

Bill · 16th October 2008, 05:14 PM

Well the consensus is that it's a recently matched piece.
I have little doubt the blade is 19thC. The file work on the guard suggests it may be even be mid 19C.
IMO, Malay sundangs generally have a slight tapper to the blade. This one has broad blade (suggesting Moro) for slashing & likely was made to attach stirrups. It may well have once had stirrups but the photos I see don't determine, one way or another, that it once had or never did. One would suspect that if did have for any length of time the metal underneath would have distinct visible signs of different exposure/wear.
Wood surfaces darken with age, the deeper you plane a old board, the lighter it gets. While it may never look like fresh lumber, each swipe of the plane will lighten the wood. Agree that photos can easily show distortion of colors, but those pics suggest to me that wood was carved a long time ago. The entire hilt (wood/metal/bone) shows age. If it was artificially aged, they did a great job.
Once again it would be interesting to see the tang. This one is off center, which is not uncommon for Moro blades. It would appear this tang might have a more narrow rectangular shape. If it showed recent filing to fit the hilt, it would pretty much tell the story. But from a the tangs I've examined, they do vary quite a bit & a narrow/longer tang on a old blade would be the norm.

16th October 2008, 05:14 PM	#4
Bill Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Chicago area Posts: 327	Well the consensus is that it's a recently matched piece. I have little doubt the blade is 19thC. The file work on the guard suggests it may be even be mid 19C. IMO, Malay sundangs generally have a slight tapper to the blade. This one has broad blade (suggesting Moro) for slashing & likely was made to attach stirrups. It may well have once had stirrups but the photos I see don't determine, one way or another, that it once had or never did. One would suspect that if did have for any length of time the metal underneath would have distinct visible signs of different exposure/wear. Wood surfaces darken with age, the deeper you plane a old board, the lighter it gets. While it may never look like fresh lumber, each swipe of the plane will lighten the wood. Agree that photos can easily show distortion of colors, but those pics suggest to me that wood was carved a long time ago. The entire hilt (wood/metal/bone) shows age. If it was artificially aged, they did a great job. Once again it would be interesting to see the tang. This one is off center, which is not uncommon for Moro blades. It would appear this tang might have a more narrow rectangular shape. If it showed recent filing to fit the hilt, it would pretty much tell the story. But from a the tangs I've examined, they do vary quite a bit & a narrow/longer tang on a old blade would be the norm.