Balinese/Lombok pedang

[Maurice]

Yesterday I received my latest find!

It's a very interesting pedang, as you can see for yourself on the images....

It has great patina and a very attractive blade, full of Quran verses and other decorations, inlaid in silver at both sides and the spine.


If someone would dare trying to translate the text on the blade, I will upload some close ups...

Maurice

[kronckew]

ooh! them fullers are gorgeous!

[kai]

If someone would dare trying to translate the text on the blade, I will upload some close ups...

Come on, Maurice, post'em close-ups!

Left side of the blade is orientated correctly (sequence right to left, i.e. base of blade to tip).

The right side is upside down - just flip it over (after doing the left side pics) and again go from the base of the blade towards the tip...

[Maurice]

Originally Posted by kai

Come on, Maurice, post'em close-ups!

OK, I'm glad you can give me the translation than!

[Maurice]

Left:

[Maurice]

Right:

[Maurice]

Spine:

[kai]

Hello Maurice,

OK, I'm glad you can give me the translation than!

I was going to suggest "Made in China" but you beat me to it.

Sorry for deserting this thread - going to add more soon.

Regards,
Kai

[kai]

Congrats, Maurice, nice score!

Got the blade "washed" recently? It looks very dark while the inlay is shiny; I'd give the silver on the hilt and scabbard a gentle polish, too.

These pedang come from all over the archipelago - mostly along the arc from Sumatra to Sumbawa with a bit of Banjar/etc. thrown in. Given the Islamic script, I guess we can exclude Bali as the origin of this piece.

Hopefully the inscription will give us some clues... From what I can glean from the pics, the inlay looks a bit crude though. And the inlay is very intact. I'd posit that the inlay got added later but you get a much better idea from handling it up and close - what can you read from the blade, workmanship, patina, etc.?

Regards,
Kai

[Maurice]

Originally Posted by kai

Congrats, Maurice, nice score!

Got the blade "washed" recently?It looks very dark while the inlay is shiny; I'd give the silver on the hilt and scabbard a gentle polish, too.

These pedang come from all over the archipelago - mostly along the arc from Sumatra to Sumbawa with a bit of Banjar/etc. thrown in. Given the Islamic script, I guess we can exclude Bali as the origin of this piece.

Hopefully the inscription will give us some clues... From what I can glean from the pics, the inlay looks a bit crude though. And the inlay is very intact. I'd posit that the inlay got added later but you get a much better idea from handling it up and close - what can you read from the blade, workmanship, patina, etc.?

Regards,
Kai

Kai, the blade had not been washed recently. You can see the lamination when having a close look to the blade. It also smells not "washed", and it's just the colour I've seen on old blades, which turn out black from dirt or whatsoever...
I recently cleaned a Javanese sword with brass inlay. You could hardly see the brass inlay before. But after giving it a good rub with some dishsoap, the brass inlay looks like new, but the blade is still very black. No matter how hard I rub, it will stay black!
If you mean this with "washed" I think that's what happened.

The inlay is far from crude, but probably you think so because of the close ups. I never have seen a better inlay on these kind of swords.
It looks like it was done with a finewriter, but it isn't. When looking at the images of the whole blade you can see how smooth it looks, and not crude as done recently.
The inlay like this, is done the way it was occurring on other 19th century blades.
Also when you look on the last image of #5, you can see a part which isn't rubbed as good as the other part of the blade.

Ofcourse I agree the inlay could be recenter as the sword, but it's very good craftmanship and also done a long, long time ago..

About the silver, I leave it as it is. Love the patina more as the shiny silverwork.. :0

Sometimes you've got to have it in hands. This one is such piece you can't show it on images. You have to see and feel it.
The blade is very smoothly forged, high quality. Also the inlay is very good work, and therefore it's all there and not (partly) gone allready (as seen on quality inlay of old blades). This in combination with an enormous patina on the handle (which I've not seen often on these pedangs, probably because people cleaning the silverwork and decide to clean the whole handle instead?), tells me I need to keep this one in my own collection, though it isn't Borneo and I'm not attracted to these kind of pedangs normally!

Maurice

[CharlesS]

Excellent craftsmanship on this sort of pedang, with a gorgeous blade. The dark looks more to be patina than 'a wash', though as Kai suggested, I have seen these washed to highlight the inlay.

If I were a betting man I would say the inlay was done within the last 50 years and far younger then the sword. The Arabic makes it somehow seem Sumatran to me, but of course it could have originated in so many places as these styles were supremely popular.

Congrats on a truly nice pick up!

Please see:

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...umatran+swords

[Maurice]

Originally Posted by CharlesS

Excellent craftsmanship on this sort of pedang, with a gorgeous blade. The dark looks more to be patina than 'a wash', though as Kai suggested, I have seen these washed to highlight the inlay.

If I were a betting man I would say the inlay was done within the last 50 years and far younger then the sword. The Arabic makes it somehow seem Sumatran to me, but of course it could have originated in so many places as these styles were supremely popular.

Congrats on a truly nice pick up!

Please see:

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...umatran+swords

Yes, but not in this case. This one hasn't been washed. It's definately patina.
Beneath the surface you can see a very nice pattern in the blade, but it's hard to get it on camera. And I decided to leave the piece as it is, without any cleaning whatsoever.

Why do you think it's 50 years ago done? (just curious).
I think it would be done much rougher if it was only 50 years ago.
But who knows, maybe we get an translation with a date or maybe it says "made in Taiwan" :-)
Till than I believe it's much more older, though not as old as the blade.

I'm allowed to post next image. It's from a sikin panjang. Look at the craftmanship. Definately 19th century, but it looks "rough" also. But this is because it's done as thin and delicately as the inlay in my pedang.
I would like to see the inlay craftmanship in other blades which should be 19th century or older, just to see the difference (but than I want examples with as delicately inlay as the pedang).

Ofcourse I knew your thread: Very nice pieces Charles: I specially like pedang 2 and 6.

Maurice

[kai]

Hello Maurice,

You can see the lamination when having a close look to the blade.

Yup, I did saw those laminations - looks promising indeed! This blade is certainly nice - not sure how likely it was during the 19th century to add extensive scripture to an intricately (non-random) pattern-welded blade though...

My own rule of thumb is that the more script is found on any blade, the more suspicious I should be.

The inlay is far from crude, but probably you think so because of the close ups. I never have seen a better inlay on these kind of swords.

I agree that I've seen much worse examples which were obviously modern. However, with low wages in Indonesia even quality work is not neccessarily an indication for something being genuine/antique.

Just for example: In this case, I'd have expected nicer floral decorations. Or none if space were too limited.

I hope we'll compilate more inlaid pieces for comparision here (haven't found any genuine antique example of sword blades with such extensive scripture yet; did not do a comprehensive search though).

The inlay like this, is done the way it was occurring on other 19th century blades.

There were obviously different techniques utilized (cp. John's sikin panjang blade), so comparision of quality and possibly estimating age would need to account for several variables.

Sometimes you've got to have it in hands. This one is such piece you can't show it on images. You have to see and feel it.

Yup, I did stipulate this already.

This in combination with an enormous patina on the handle (which I've not seen often on these pedangs, probably because people cleaning the silverwork and decide to clean the whole handle instead?)

The horn pommel does seem to have really good age; I don't think real patina is much affected by repeated gentle cleaning. I believe that regular handling does help to keep the horn "alive" rather than drying out too much in storage, especially in low humidity.

Regards,
Kai