Twistcore Moro spear with provenance, collected in 1872!

drac2k · 29th November 2017, 08:34 PM

Beautiful spear with a fantastic lineage.Was the loop on the end of the spear for cordage and retrieval; obviously one would not want to lose such a valuable item.

kai · 29th November 2017, 11:44 PM

Quote:

Was the loop on the end of the spear for cordage and retrieval; obviously one would not want to lose such a valuable item.

Budiak were mainly intended for close-range hand-hand combat rather than being thrown.

Such a loop is not unusual but far from universal. Apart from allowing to place the non-business end on soggy soil, I'm wondering whether it also may have helped storage by keeping it in a vertical hanging position (i. e. not prone to bending the pole)?

Regards,
Kai

Battara · 30th November 2017, 12:04 AM

Well Kai, you have a good question. My thoughts are these:

1. One sees more twist cores in kris, barong, spears, kampilan, etc. the further back in time one goes. In fact, by the time of the early 20th century, twist cores in the Philippines disappear.

2. Early twist cores seem to be of better quality than those by the end of the 19th century.

3. As gun technologies improved and the acquisition of these weapons grew, the quality of bladed weaponry seems to have declined due to declining reliance on bladed weaponry. When the demand drops, so does the supply and the trained smiths (who often go to make other things for a living). Thus even the training for making a twist core properly is lost, especially after the American ban of large bladed weaponry in the Morolands after 1915.

So far these are some of my observations, but I admit I need to see more provenance examples and more research to back these thoughts.

29th November 2017, 08:34 PM	#1
drac2k Member Join Date: Jun 2013 Posts: 1,217	Beautiful spear with a fantastic lineage.Was the loop on the end of the spear for cordage and retrieval; obviously one would not want to lose such a valuable item.

30th November 2017, 12:04 AM	#3
Battara EAAF Staff Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Louisville, KY Posts: 7,200	Well Kai, you have a good question. My thoughts are these: 1. One sees more twist cores in kris, barong, spears, kampilan, etc. the further back in time one goes. In fact, by the time of the early 20th century, twist cores in the Philippines disappear. 2. Early twist cores seem to be of better quality than those by the end of the 19th century. 3. As gun technologies improved and the acquisition of these weapons grew, the quality of bladed weaponry seems to have declined due to declining reliance on bladed weaponry. When the demand drops, so does the supply and the trained smiths (who often go to make other things for a living). Thus even the training for making a twist core properly is lost, especially after the American ban of large bladed weaponry in the Morolands after 1915. So far these are some of my observations, but I admit I need to see more provenance examples and more research to back these thoughts.