Moro Kampilan. Opinion needed

[philkid]

Hi, I have here a Moro kampilan. Can you give me your opinion about this particular Item. Thanks.

[tom hyle]

Just kidding, but you can send it to me if you want, ha ha. The silverwork on the handle is unusual and interesting; it is silver? The black rust/tarnish on it makes me think that.....most metals that look like silver but aren't don't rust black, like silver does. How interesting that it has a metal upper ferule, but at the bottom of the hilt the usual self-feruling wooden guard. There was probably once a split-rattan or metal wrapping on the grip. It seems to have lost a "staple" type metal piece from the handguard. Also, the raised disc(s?) on the wide face of the pommel looks to have once had a metal covering tacked on; likely a coin. Nice looking sword.

[philkid]

thanks for the info. I too was curious about the metal on the hilt. How can you know it is silver? I'm just new at this. I have been collecting and selling for only a year.

[Conogre]

That's a beautiful old sword, congratulations!
Instead of rusting and prodoucing a reddish iron oxide, silver usually just gets very "black" right from the beginning.....on Muslim weaponry, silver was often a sign of wealth,high rank or personal importance, being a "clean" holy metal, where gold was often considered sinful.
Those holes along the bottom of the silver on the pommel would have held tufts of hair, usually from a horse but occasionally of human origin.
The kampilans are one of the weapons found both in the Philippines and in Indonesia, most famous to the general public for its use by the "Sea Dayaks" or pirates.
Mike

[tom hyle]

Originally Posted by Conogre

.....on Muslim weaponry, silver was often a sign of wealth,high rank or personal importance, being a "clean" holy metal, where gold was often considered sinful.

Mike

I didn't know that; thanks. In truth I very little care whether metal is silver or how pure; I'm unfascinated by silver, but AFAIK there are some sort of tests that jewellers know; maybe someone can tell you. Black oxide is a pretty decent cue though. Nickel alloys rust (I like to use that word for all metals; I don't know why) grey or green (depending how much copper they contain), and aluminum, while having a slightly different sheen, also rusts dull light grey.

[ariel]

The pic of the tip looks as if a motorized implement had been used for cleaning.
Horror, horror.....

[Andrew]

I understand this item it currently listed for sale on eBay. Philkid, did you read the rules thread at the top of the main forum?

If you are the seller of an item or have any financial or personal relationship with the seller of an item which, to the most paranoid among us, could constitute a conflict of interest, then any post you initiate about such item belongs in the swap forum. If your only interest or connection is as a potential bidder or buyer of the item, this restriction does not apply, however, you agree to hold all forum members acting in good faith harmless, should you base any purchase decision upon information from such a discussion.

If someone else has initiated discussion on any item for which the preceding paragraph applies in your case, you may reply to and participate in the discussion, but must in each such reply include a statement of your actual or potential commercial interest in the item.

There is no enforceable external legal constraint against posting an object for discussion in a forum such as ours and later deciding to sell the item and posting a link to the discussion in the forums. However, if a forum member does this without having received the permission of the authors of the relevant posts in advance for such commercial use of their remarks, this constitutes grounds for cancellation of the offender's forum registration.

Thread locked. Philkid, please contact me directly via PM or email.