Nias sword with brass handle for sharing and discussion

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by Sajen

Thank you Jim! I am not an expert on these swords but here is the little bit I know. Balato is the name of the sword but there are a lot of other names, they will differ from village to village. You can distinguish between North and South Nias swords, mainly by the handle style. And, but this is my own assumption, there are the head hunting swords which are very imposant with their lasara handles and the charm balls at the scabbard and the plain daily use swords like my one. But like said, take it with a grain of salt, it's my assumption.
From the occupation from German prisoners I never had heard but will research about it.
I guess that my sword is from the WWII period.

Regards,
Detlef

Thank you for the response! and while as I note, these areas of collecting and study are not typically in my usual field. These are highly specialized and extremely complex areas and pretty daunting to those of us who do not regularly frequent them.
However some examples just command attention, and I could not resist this one!
Its funny, as you note, terms for a sword form can virtually be different from village to village..........I recall Alan Maisey using those exact words in one of our conversations many years back While that seems impossible, when you are dealing with tribal peoples in rugged terrain and thick jungle it is not unusual that direct contact is often not possible nor sought between these people. ...especially with contrasts in their cultural demeanor.

Though possibly of WWII vintage, in ethnographic weapons, age is relatively unimportant as many weapons are simply more recent examples of forms long in use, and represent the culture itself.
Your observations seem to me soundly placed plausibilities than assumptions, thank you for adding them.

Outstanding example!!!!!!