Silver Mounted Barong with Swassa

[CharlesS]

Well, I suppose silver must become the new ivory, so here's a start with that philosophy.

This lovely old barong is likely early 20th century and sports many fine and unique features:

1. A very heavy shandigan blade with reinforced edge and easily visible heat treated zone. This is probably the 2nd heaviest barong I have ever handled.

2. A "chop" mark to one side of the blade. I believe Spunjer suggested some time ago that these marks are often fraudulent and mean nothing, but became a status symbol nonetheless. I see nothing about this blade that suggests it's anything other than Moro made. If anyone sees a unique identity to the chop mark, please let us know.

3. A silver ferrule with a swassa bolster of excellent craftsmanship

4. The top of the ferrule is mounted in a separate, but perfectly fitted swassa insert, again, of tremendous craftsmanship....look at the practically seamless fit!

5. A swassa insert into the rear of the jungayyan-esque pommel. No doubt this one was at one time as perfect as the one mentioned above, but over time an opening has occurred between the swassa and silver on one side.

Dimensions: Overall in scabbard: 26in. Complete sword alone: 24in. Blade:16in.

The scabbard here is not original to this blade, but is an old one I had that just happened to fit perfectly. I have had some very good luck with collected old barong scabbards fitting on to blades they were not "born" with.

Comments and remarks are welcomed.

[Spunjer]

yowza!!! what a beaut, Charles!!! nothing to add, really, except that this has got to be be one of the most beautiful barungs i've ever seen! congrats!!!

[jwkiernan]

Absolutely one of the most beautiful barongs I have seen...thanks for sharing!
All my best,
John

[Robert]

WOW The simple elegance of the silver and gold/swassa work is what (at least as far as I am concerned) makes this such an outstanding example. Add to that an extremely well proportioned and finished blade and you end up with one of the most beautiful barongs that I have ever seen. My congratulations to you for your great fortune in acquiring this item. To say that I am envious would be an understatement. But I will anyway.

Best,
Robert

[cicak_cobing]

this one got me drooling..

[CharlesS]

Thanks guys. I am thrilled with it. Somehow it almost seems to have an 'art deco' quality to it doesn't it? Just very different.

[David]

I'm sorry Charles, but the recent ban on ivory has just been extended to all silver-hilted barongs as well. If you wrap this beauty up immediately and sent it to me directly i will see what i can do about keeping it safe from the customs agents and making sure no charges are brought against you…

[Loedjoe]

Indeed an outstanding barong, which I was sorry to see as 'sold' on Gavin's website Swords and Antique Weapons a few days ago, but congratulations to CharlesS for securing it (and to Gavin for finding it).

[Jim McDougall]

While I have seldom entered this particular field of collecting, I have occasionally had the opportunity to see phenomenal examples of these kinds of weapons through Gav, who has always helpfully shared many of these 'finds' with me. Naturally with my obsession with markings on blades of all kinds, this one is intriguing as it seems odd to see a Chinese 'chop' mark on a blade from Islamic areas of the S. Philippines.

Although I no longer am a collector of weapons, I am very much of information and learning.Thanks to the tenacious and discerning skills of Gav in finding unusual, and as seen here, fantastically beautiful, weapons I have indeed learned a lot!

Congratulations Charles! and thank you for presenting this incredible weapon with such great detail.

I hope we will get more on the chop mark. It seems these of course were placed on all manner of things, money, documents etc. as an easily recognized indicator of official status. On arms it seems to have been used primarily as a 'quality' symbol, much the same as with makers and guild marks on European and other blades, so I doubt it could be classified as 'fraudulent' despite probably being spurious .

[VANDOO]

A BEAUTIFUL AND EXCEPTIONAL BARONG ,CONGRADULATIONS!
THE METAL WORK LOOKS LIKE SOMETHING A VERY GOOD JEWELER COULD DO. IF THE SILVER , SWASSA METAL WORK WAS DONE BY A CHINESE THAT MIGHT EXPLAIN THE MARK THOUGH I DON'T KNOW WHY THEY WOULD HAVE SIGNED THE BLADE INSTEAD OF THE SILVER WORK. IN MANY COUNTRIES CRAFTSMEN FROM OTHER COUNTRIES OFTEN WERE THE ONES DOING THE FANCY GOLD AND SILVER WORK I WONDER IF THIS WAS THE CASE IN THE PHILIPPINES OR IF IT WAS ALL LOCAL WORK?
A STROKE OF GOOD LUCK FINDING SUCH A NICE SCABBARD THAT FITS. I WOULD THINK THE ORIGINAL WOULD ALSO HAVE BEEN MADE OUT OF THIS VERY GOOD QUALITY WOOD.

[Sajen]

What can I say others don't have said already?
A real beauty, congrats Charles!

Regards,
Detlef

[kronckew]

i seem to recall reading that the chinese produced good blades for the Filipino trade which were then hilted in the Philippines.

[CharlesS]

Originally Posted by kronckew

i seem to recall reading that the chinese produced good blades for the Filipino trade which were then hilted in the Philippines.

Hi Kronckew,

I believe what you have mentioned is quite true....I just don't think that this is one of those blades. When I see that mark on the smaller barong blades of the 19th century I am much more prone to believe that they may, indeed, be Chinese made and trade blades. Typically those are of very fine quality with very active pattern welding and often flashing grains. Battara has a very good example of such a piece.

To my eye, for what it is worth, there is simply nothing about this blade that does not seem 100% Moro made.

Additionally, note the rather crude way the mark is made, somewhat roughly chiseled into the blade.

Perhaps we should post examples of other marks on blades that are attributed to Chinese manufacture?? That's an idea that will allow us some comparisons.

Again, I am curious if this "character" has any meaning at all.

[Battara]

So YOU'RE the one who got this!!!!

[kino]

Congrats on a very fine addition to your arsenal. I had a feeling it wouldn't take long for Gavin to tag it as sold on that listing.
With my experience, silver hilted Barungs are less common than their ivory counterpart. I only know of one other and it's in DaveS' collection. It makes me wonder why they're not as plentiful as ivory Kakatua. I don't think it would be more or less difficult than what's found on a kris, for the metal smith in crafting a silver Kakatua on a Barung.

I find it hard to believe that Chinese in-scripted Barung blades were made by Chinese smiths. I question why would a Sulu get a Chinese blade when there are plenty of good Moro smiths to forge their blades. Twist cores would be a testament to their skill. I have a few Barungs with Chinese characters, when translated by a friend, the inscriptions didn't make sense.
Are there other Moro blades other than Barungs with Chinese chop marks?

[CharlesS]

Originally Posted by kino

Are there other Moro blades other than Barungs with Chinese chop marks?

Darn good point Kino...I have never seen those marks on anything other than barong blade.

[Battara]

It would not shock me that this was a way to raise the value of the blade, since Chinese smiths may have been of greater value at one time.

It would be like "SOLINGEN" on Scottish broadswords.