GUNONG on EBAY

[David]

This recently ended on eBay. The seller makes no claim of age and IDs the sheath and pommel material as buffalo bone. The metal fittings are not identified.
I am of the mind that in spite of the high craft and vintage look, that this is a relatively new gunong. This seller also sells a lot Moro kris which also have a vintage/antique look, but which i also suspect are coming out of a modern workshop. Do other agree with this assessment?
I do NOT want to name this seller (nor should others here) and this is not intended as an accusation of dishonesty. As i stated, he never presents his blades as antique even if they seem to have intentionally been given that appearance. But i am curious if anyone is familiar with modern workshops in the Philippines doing this type of work. Some time ago someone on this forum posted a large series of photos shot at a modern workshop in the Philippines doing high end work, but i have had no luck finding it in the archives.

[Battara]

Wish I could answer you David. It looks modern (and thus I passed on it) with carabao bone, not horn. Some of the piercing work seems to me to be done much later, although this chasing work is good. Also I usually see bone scabbards like this on newer ones.

As far as the metals are concerned, it looks like copper and either nickel-silver or silver plated copper (also very common). Of course the only way to know for sure is to test the metal........

[David]

Just to be clear Jose, i did not purchase this gunong. Just curious because i see all these "quality" Moro blades coming from this one seller all the time so he must be hooked up with somebody's workshop over there.
I agree on the copper and "silver" could well be German silver (which actually has no silver at all). I would think that if it were real silver it would have been in the description as a selling point.

[Lew]

Definately modern but nice.

[Rick]

The bone has been stained to look old; note the small patches visible on the 'silver' collar at the throat of the scabbard .

[David]

Originally Posted by Rick

The bone has been stained to look old; note the small patches visible on the 'silver' collar at the throat of the scabbard .

Yeah, i noticed that...you would think that with all the craftsmanship applied here they would have thought to stain the bone before assembly.

[Battara]

Originally Posted by David

Just to be clear Jose, i did not purchase this gunong. Just curious because i see all these "quality" Moro blades coming from this one seller all the time so he must be hooked up with somebody's workshop over there.

Oh........right........I misunderstood.

I am thinking nickel-silver (right - no silver content) because of the color of the metal.

And Rick, a good point - I missed the white unstained areas. I wonder if the craftsman finished it and then the dealer stained it later......

Still nice metal work.

[David]

Yes, i think there is no arguing that there is nice craftsmanship at work here which is the opposite of most modern made Moro weapons entering the market today. Goes to show that these skills have not been lost.

[Spunjer]

yeah, recent. it's an industry in Lanao del sur, specifically Tugaya. lots of these can be found in Davao and Ermita, the new antique district in Manila. here are some pics of locals in action:

http://www.pbase.com/timonera/tugaya&page=all