Kepings or Barongs

[RobT]

Hi All,

I'd like to know whether the three swords shown are kepings or barongs. Actually, I'm pretty sure the bottom one is a barong but the blade is so slender for its length (20.375" [51.7525cm] long by 2.5" [6.35cm] wide that I decided to add it to the group. The spine is also respectably thick at the hilt (5/16" [7.9375mm]). I really think the top sword is a keping and am not too sure one way or the other about the second one.

Sincerely,
RobT

[xasterix]

Originally Posted by RobT

Hi All,

I'd like to know whether the three swords shown are kepings or barongs. Actually, I'm pretty sure the bottom one is a barong but the blade is so slender for its length (20.375" [51.7525cm] long by 2.5" [6.35cm] wide that I decided to add it to the group. The spine is also respectably thick at the hilt (5/16" [7.9375mm]). I really think the top sword is a keping and am not too sure one way or the other about the second one.

Sincerely,
RobT

Hi Rob, I believe they're all barungs.

[RobT]

xasterix,

Dang! I thought for sure the top one with that flattish part of the spine starting about half way toward the tip indicates that it is a keping. It looks as if telling a barong from a keping is rather tricky.

Sincerely,
RobT

[Ian]

Hi Rob, xasterix:

A few years ago I posted pictures of a "Mandaya keping" that I acquired in Manila about 20 years ago. It is here.

[xasterix]

Originally Posted by Ian

Hi Rob, xasterix:

A few years ago I posted pictures of a "Mandaya keping" that I acquired in Manila about 20 years ago. It is here.

Hi Ian,

That indeed is a keping!

The interesting this is its provenance. According to my museum curator friend, at one point in time, Tugaya-dressed blades were considered a status symbol among the Lumad. So the Lumad chiefs either bought full swords, or had their Lumad blades-only dressed up in Tugaya. I think your sample jives with that- it may have been owned by Mandaya, but according to the brass style and the reversed guard (for some reason a lot of Tugaya blades had incorrectly-oriented guards), it's a Tugaya product as well. Nothing wrong with that, because once upon a time it was considered high status for the Lumads. It's also possible that a Maguindanaon married into a Maranao (or at least Lanao-based) family, and they had their old keping repaired / re-dressed in Tugaya.

[xasterix]

Originally Posted by RobT

xasterix,

Dang! I thought for sure the top one with that flattish part of the spine starting about half way toward the tip indicates that it is a keping. It looks as if telling a barong from a keping is rather tricky.

Sincerely,
RobT

Yup it's tricky. One of the helpful things to tell them apart is the hilt. Barung hilts have a different flavor vs keping hilts (whether original or re-make).

[Ian]

A few more variants that might meet the definition of a Keping. These were posted previously in a thread "Modern Barung."


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[xasterix]

Originally Posted by Ian

A few more variants that might meet the definition of a Keping. These were posted previously in a thread "Modern Barung."


.

Hi Ian, I agree that all of these can be considered as keping