A Maranao Kris

[kai]

Hello Ian,

I was wondering, looking at the blade, whether this sword might have started its existence to the south of the Philippines. The wide straight blade with deep fullers is unusual for a Moro piece. Also, the toe of the scabbard. Just reminds me of some that we have seen before that likely came from what is now N. Borneo/Malaysia. Just a thought.

I have yet to see any reasonably provenanced blades like this from Sabah or thereabouts.

However, there is a family of keris sundang blades from the Malay peninsula which shares quite a few of these features. IMVHO, this blade does not exhibit any clear Malay features while the base does seem consistent with a Moro and more specifically Maranao origin as already noted by Ron.

Regards,
Kai