collection for commentary

[Gehazi]

Hey everyone, I have been lurking for a bit now, and several of you have helped me in my collecting, I thought I would post a few pieces for your thoughts, I do not care about values; just ideas on origin and age, and only if you are interested in the subject.

I primarily collect headhunter weapons, mandau especially

a few notes--

1. dha , kachin? guessing metropolitan , any thoughts on age and origin ? scabbard pictured certainly not the original
2. how old is this? I think old, I can make out very very faint old aso patterns, almost impossible to see in a photo- this is the one I am most curious about
3. My very first real mandau, purchased from antiques dealer online, age was claimed to be first quarter of 19th century, it has a very fine balance, and I think he was not lying, but again, expert eyes appreciated!
4. perhaps my favorite mandau , purchased from another dealer, any ideas on the tribe and age appreciated-- dealer dated it 3rd quarter 19th
5. same deal included this one, simply love its design ; scabbard is replacement, would like thoughts on age of the blade.

I appreciate this forum and everyone here, you guys really make collecting more fun and much easier.-- If there was not a limit on pictures I would have made this much bigger, but we can go section by section-- no comment is necessary , as I do have a rough idea of where and when most of these come from, I just like to see what the learned minds here would add.

I have purchased mandau from several of the members on this forum I think, and can't thank you guys enough for all your help and advice as I have pursued this hobby. I will not set it down as long as I live, they just enchant me in a way few things do.

[Ian]

Hello Gehazi:

Welcome to the forum. That is an impressive collection of mandau you show, but the one that interests me is the dha/dao which does resemble the Kachin style dha used mainly in northern Burma. This particular one, with its brass fittings on the hilt, was probably made in Burma or southern Yunnan but I suspect it was used in Assam. The accompanying sheath with its lattice work of rattan resembles rattan work from a number of tribes to the north of Burma, including the Abors, Akas, Garos, and Singphos, and probably a few others. It is not common to find this form of scabbard. Both the sword and sheath seem to have some age (perhaps late 19th C).

Regards,

Ian.

[kronckew]

hi gehazi, welcome. you found us!

gehazi has a much bigger mandau, etc., collection to hopefully share with us.
(i've seen some of them elsewhen on another site we both share.)

[Gehazi]

on the dha the scabbard actually fit so poorly I assumed it could not be original to the blade; though if it does match region, it would make sense it just got worn out. the blade remains very thick from hilt to tip, with almost no distal taper-- of all my dha it is definitely my favorite, I will post the rest that I have archived as I can-- I will include a few more pictures of the dha since you are interested in placing it better-- also a key feature I think ; it looks almost like it has a hornet or hummingbird forgemark that has mostly worn away.


a few more pictures of the first dha, along with another dha you guys may recognize, as I snapped this up within a few minutes of it being posted on artzi's site. it is my only obviously forge marked dha

[Gehazi]

and yeah kronk I definitely intend to start sharing my stuff here with you guys, as you can help me understand the true age, area of creation and intention behind creation of many of my artifacts. the fun of collecting for me is mostly in the learning about the cultures and the history around them; I have already bought pretty much all the books I can find on old borneo religions, missionary reports and stuff like that-- I am sure it is a similar pull to most collectors of a chosen category


when I first saw the dha with brass, I actually thought it was a blade turned backwards with the tip becoming the "rat tail" for the dha, and the sword broken off at the tang-- but I am pretty sure this was forged in SE asia for the local market, just really well.

very glad to be here and to start posting, was afraid I messed up earlier just realized that it needed to be ok'd by mod

I will continue to share my mandau and other artifacts here, as time allows, huzzah.


few more objects

1. a really well balanced mandau missing most of its decorations, but the steel is still very fine, the double fullers and the work on the end make it one I really enjoy, though It lacks the art of many of the more complete sets-- would love opinions on actual time and place for this one-- I picked it up from fagan ( I hope it is ok to tell whom I purchased these from as I consider most if not all of them worthy of advertisement, my collection is largely possible because dealers let me pay over time )

2. ebay win, I feel I really under paid for this, maybe I over paid, but I think it is an authentic mandau, the grip has flowers and leeches theme, the blade looks solidly made with good steel-- would love any thoughts on this as well, as I feel like I really have a good one here, just under dressed.

3. I saw these up at akaal arms and simply fell in love immediately, they are so strange, and almost a union of all my favorite collecting areas! dha+parang= very cool swords; 1906 coins in the grips, seller guesses the blades are kora influenced, I think there is naga influence, please any ideas are welcome on origin ; small note is that one is built thicker, and a bit longer, slightly heavier; my guess is blades meant for right and left hand.

4. I won this off of ebay, I bid against a fellow forum member I am sure, but I just had to have this one, and my luck was that it was missing a pisau, but I did have a very high quality one that looked as if it was made for it, and now they are a full set-- no full set pictures yet but I am organizing collection for insurance and will take new pictures soon.-- this is just a very fine blade all round, I love it , one of my highest quality mandau

5. My one and only kora fighting sword, purchased from erik's edge, steel looks almost crystalline though I know it is not wootz, it has a feel unlike my other blades in the character of its steel, not sure if it is the design of the blade or an actual high quality steel-- not as interested in this one's past, as I know it is a kora, and a bit off of my collecting target of head hunter blades.

continue to let me know what you think, and I will post additional pictures for anyone who wants-- I really love to finally be able to share my stuff here.

[David]

Originally Posted by Gehazi

and yeah kronk I definitely intend to start sharing my stuff here with you guys, as you can help me understand the true age, area of creation and intention behind creation of many of my artifacts.

Welcome to the forum Ghazi. I do have a suggestion for you on this. Show us your pieces one by one in separate threads. It's nice and impressive to show off large parts of your collection, but it tends to make it more confusing, especially as you add more and more different weapons to the thread to understand just which dha or mandau we are talking about.

[Gehazi]

very fair point, will stop with the spam --- but I tried to number them in order in my post, so that should roughly reflect which of each I am talking about

thanks for the tip though, I already made another post before reading though, but advice will be heeded after this -- much easier to discuss an artifact one at a time rather than as a mass with a gang of poor punctuation before and after it

[Gehazi]

A few more pieces from the armory, including a sword commissioned , a kind of dha that I promised the maker I would always include right beside my antiques, and I will, because I really love it -- this is one of a pair, the main sword unfinished.

I realize posting this how much of my things are actually totally unpictured, and I will make an effort to update this thread with my other objects as soon as possible, most of these are from the sellers , I have several I will share when I finish paying for them as well lol


1. A chieftan's ax, luzon, kalinga, all original, farrow fine arts
2. A complete sea dayak sword, not a mandau, but does have a side knife, and even has a floral decorated dart holder in perhaps ebony ( or some dark heavy wood) is set between the pisau and the main blade-- the blade is centered and very well made, a saber-- one of my favorites ; oriental arms
3. renchong (sp) horn handle with crack, pattern welded blade, decent construction, everything is solid, complete scabbard missing a small chip; arms and antiques
4. pesh kabz with wootz blade and jadeite grip, arms and antiques

5. 17 inch long blade dha custom by JW bensinger, based on husin/burma style dha along with some krowit/keris influenced decoration at the very end.

6. another picture of the new sword.