My rencong pudoi

[Johan van Zyl]

Goodday friends
I got hold of this rencong pudoi at a boot sale. It is my only item from Aceh that I have at present. Please see pic. I do believe it is antique, perhaps mid to late 1800's, but I realise it is perhaps of a less desirable quality. The blade measures 22 cm and the horn hilt plus metal stud 11.3 cm. The blade seems to have a somewhat undulating pattern near the edge, but not very distinct.

[Johan van Zyl]

Please see pic. Friends, do you think I am reading this correctly? It's shouting "antique", but maybe that's just what I want to hear! The white leafy scroll seems to be some kind of lacquer.
Please tell me what you think. Regards.
Johan

[Sajen]

Hello Johan,

Nice rencong and for sure antique, don't worry!
With a blade length from 22 cm in average size. Handle form is hulu (handle) puntung. The painting on the handle seems to be old so I would keep it.
Nice piece, sadly without scabbard.
Attached a picture of my examples for comparison.

Regards,
Detlef

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by Johan van Zyl

The blade seems to have a somewhat undulating pattern near the edge, but not very distinct.

The blades are normally very fine laminated. A good polish and etch will show it very clearly.

[Johan van Zyl]

Detlef, thank you for your reply and the picture showing your own examples. I did not, however, find the equivalent of my example among yours. And that is exactly what set me thinking.
Your example third from left is the only one approximately like mine, except for that "elbow" which makes such a rencong a meucangee. If mine had an "elbow", the hulu would look just like your example. So I took some pics of the end of my rencong hulu, and what I think I see tells me that there might have been an "elbow" there!
It will be important to hear if you and the other friends agree that my rencong is a meucangee and not a pudoi/punting.
Detlef, you have helped to set me straight, thank you, let's see what comes of this! Please see two pics.
Regards, Johan

[Johan van Zyl]

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[Sajen]

Hello Johan,

Of course it could be that the handle was once a meucangge and the elongation was broken at one time and got recarved and on your new pictures it looks a little bit like this. But anyway, it's now a puntung handle like the one on the left in the attached picture (taken from an old thread, collection from our member Willem), I guess from akar bahar (black coral).

Regards,
Detlef

[Johan van Zyl]

I hold your opinion in this matter in high regard, Detlef, and so I need to confirm what I think you are saying.
You seem quite satisfied that the elongation was broken at some time. You seem to be advising me to accept the fact that the rencong's damage is irreparable and I should leave things be.
However, I am feeling a nagging conviction that it cannot be accurate to say that the handle is now a puntung handle. It was almost certainly made as a meucangge handle. Surely, a puntung handle and a meucangge handle cannot be identical in all respects barring the elongation! Such a belief would infer that if someone should expertly remove a rencong's elongation, then no expert, however experienced, would be able to distinguish between puntung and meucangge.
This leads me to ask you whether you think I could rather try to attach a home-crafted elongation in horn to the handle, to make it the meucangge that it was originally designed to be. Of course, such a replacement must not be intended to deceive!
I am in any case planning to home-craft a scabbard as well, as I cannot bear to see my rencong all naked!
Your further advice will be greatly appreciated.
Regards, Johan