2 Borneo swords for comment..

[Maurice]

Originally Posted by CharlesS

For all of us, what specifically says "Kenyah" or "Iban" about each piece? Which features make them unique to those tribes??

Hi Charles and David,

The Baram Kenja piece is typical for this area because of the "wild" carvings in combination with all other aspects (like the shape) of the handle.
Ofcourse other tribes hilts could be wildly carved, but the way this one is carved tells me it's from the Kenja's from the Baram area.
The shape of the blade in combination with the decoration and inlay in the blade, also match perfectly with the hilt.
David, according Shelford this one we could call "Baieng".

The Iban parang (for the correct name we should ask Michael, but a parang I'd call it as it isn't a mandau), has a niabor like hilt. Also the bladeshape/decoration is the right one for this area.

Maurice