"Artistic License" With a Moro Kampillan

CharlesS · 2nd August 2018, 06:03 PM

Generally when one uses the terms "artistic license" the assumption is that they are an artist and as an "artist" they have made alterations to an original of some sort to meet their own needs.

Well, I am no artist, but I can think of no better term to define what I have done with this Moro kampillan, which I have lightheartedly named "Lucy"(Many of you will get the jest).

This kampillan has cutouts for inserts on both sides, something I have not seen before. There is no doubt that it is an old sword and not a recent reproduction, so that was not a concern for me. The mystery was what were the original inserts? After searching through literally hundreds of pics and examples of Moro kampillans, I found examples of all sorts of varieties of embellishments from silver to ivory inlay, but NONE with two cutouts specifically like this.

So, with a strong desire to restore it, I studied the cutouts and thought about what could have possibly been there. There is one shallow hole on each side and one hole that goes clean through. I theorized that the shallow hole was to help keep the inserts in place, while the deeper one was almost certainly for the "eyes", often seen as Spanish or American silver coins nailed in place.

So with the concept of coins as part of the solution, the next question was what were the inserts themselves made of? I thought the greatest possibility was ivory but did not want to work in that material, then there was the possibility of bone. A third possibility was whalebone which was a rare, but known, Moro artistic medium.

Finally, I settled on whalebone and what you see below is the finished product done by a professional restorer.

The kampillan also has a barely discernible laminated blade. The crossguard looks to be too lightweight and narrow to handle the heavy iron handguard and has caused it to break, and partial loss in one place. I like that the sword has it original tassel. The hilt is beautifully carved overall.

Below are pics of the "before" and "after" of my vision of the kampillan's restoration.

2nd August 2018, 06:03 PM	#1
CharlesS Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Greenville, NC Posts: 1,857	"Artistic License" With a Moro Kampillan Generally when one uses the terms "artistic license" the assumption is that they are an artist and as an "artist" they have made alterations to an original of some sort to meet their own needs. Well, I am no artist, but I can think of no better term to define what I have done with this Moro kampillan, which I have lightheartedly named "Lucy"(Many of you will get the jest). This kampillan has cutouts for inserts on both sides, something I have not seen before. There is no doubt that it is an old sword and not a recent reproduction, so that was not a concern for me. The mystery was what were the original inserts? After searching through literally hundreds of pics and examples of Moro kampillans, I found examples of all sorts of varieties of embellishments from silver to ivory inlay, but NONE with two cutouts specifically like this. So, with a strong desire to restore it, I studied the cutouts and thought about what could have possibly been there. There is one shallow hole on each side and one hole that goes clean through. I theorized that the shallow hole was to help keep the inserts in place, while the deeper one was almost certainly for the "eyes", often seen as Spanish or American silver coins nailed in place. So with the concept of coins as part of the solution, the next question was what were the inserts themselves made of? I thought the greatest possibility was ivory but did not want to work in that material, then there was the possibility of bone. A third possibility was whalebone which was a rare, but known, Moro artistic medium. Finally, I settled on whalebone and what you see below is the finished product done by a professional restorer. The kampillan also has a barely discernible laminated blade. The crossguard looks to be too lightweight and narrow to handle the heavy iron handguard and has caused it to break, and partial loss in one place. I like that the sword has it original tassel. The hilt is beautifully carved overall. Below are pics of the "before" and "after" of my vision of the kampillan's restoration. Attached Images Last edited by CharlesS; 2nd August 2018 at 07:53 PM.