28th August 2023, 07:00 AM | #1 |
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Garab/Talibong with deity hilt
For our records. This was a recent interesting Ebay find. 39.5cm OAL 28cm blade 0.56cm spine
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28th August 2023, 06:20 PM | #2 |
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I don't know an awful lot about these, but this looks like a very nice, complete pre-WWII example with a good blade and nicely carved features. It is interesting that this blade seems to have even more of an exaggerated angled bend to it that the usual ones.
I do note that the pommel figure has fangs, so i would say more likely it represents a demon rather than a god. |
29th August 2023, 01:03 AM | #3 |
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David, this severe angle of bend is seen in what we have been calling garab from eastern Visayas and, as I understand, is more common on older blades (late 19C to early 20C). It is a bit of a name game with this style of deep belly acutely pointed Visayan blades - talibong, garab or more generally sundang. Picture below shows it with the "classic" garab with eared pommel. I haven't seen anything comprehensive on the Filipino mythology entities, from what I read the stories differ widely geographically but with some common characters. I don't think they fall into god/demon categories like in Balinese hilts. This one is quite distinctive and of a style I havent seen, it does look quite diabolical with that fanged grin stretched into a top knot (or hat?) and vertically oriented eyes. Would love to learn more.
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30th August 2023, 04:55 PM | #4 | |
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31st August 2023, 12:19 AM | #5 | |
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