MANDAU HANDLE

[Maurice]

Hi,

Maybe these pictures about hilts of the book(s) "quer durch Borneo" helps.

Best wishes,
Maurice

[Dajak]

Hi Al I am not alknown about the dajak stuff I also see things I never see before. there is so much old example s that never have been shown that these Items are also not in Books I went to Denmark and see 40 very rare and old pieces in an private collection that I never see .

But Bill Marsh point to get books and even go to some museums is very good.

see Quer durch Borneo and you see good example s

I even had one mandau an very nice example that was pictured in this book
( that went to an very impressive collector that does a lot off study on his weapons)

And I have also an example from an old time collector and weapon dealer that handle you will never see in any book but pictured in his selling catalogue from around 1910 saying in the that is has very old cloth on it.

So this one must be before 1850


I am trying to collect Murut stuf also now but this is more difficult because not much is written about it.

The handle off yours Bill looks like it have been smoke d but it is not.
they try to imitade the coler by smoking the have some black stuff that they use on the handle s.
It looks like this one is From Saribas North borneo I have one similar Iban.


The handle Carlos is from antler maybe but it is not made the way it should be it is an fantasy made handle maybe you understand now if you ever visit
Germany or the Netherlands you welcome her and I explain it to you


Regards

[Dajak]

I don't think these weapons are very well understood in the collector world and a quick look at eBay will show you that the market is currently flooded with touristy mandaus. Many of them are quite obvious. What is a bit harder to dtermine is when we see a later example that may or may not be a practical working piece as opposed to a tourist piece. It is my understanding that heads were known to be taken by the Dayak well into the second half of the 20th century

There is here in the Netherlands and grand son off an real Dajak headman IBAN who was invited back there in the 80 for an special festival no white people involved and see there people with fresh tattoo s that only where in use when heads was taking so at least in the 80 it must have been taken place. I did see some pics That I can be sure tell you all that this was for real

regards Ben

[Bill M]

Originally Posted by Dajak

The handle off yours Bill looks like it have been smoke but it is not.
they try to imitade the coler by smoking the have some black stuff that they use on the handle s.
It looks like this one is From Saribas North borneo I have one similar Iban.

Regards

Thank you Ben. I shall add your remarks to my catalog description.

here is a link to the book Quer Dutch Borneo. I found it in a free e-book you can download. I love books!!!

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17379...-h/17379-h.htm

[carlos]

Thanks Ben for the leason, i´m learning everyday reading the forum, but my english not is good and this is my problem.
THanks again
Carlos

Originally Posted by Dajak

Hi Al I am not alknown about the dajak stuff I also see things I never see before. there is so much old example s that never have been shown that these Items are also not in Books I went to Denmark and see 40 very rare and old pieces in an private collection that I never see .

But Bill Marsh point to get books and even go to some museums is very good.

see Quer durch Borneo and you see good example s

I even had one mandau an very nice example that was pictured in this book
( that went to an very impressive collector that does a lot off study on his weapons)

And I have also an example from an old time collector and weapon dealer that handle you will never see in any book but pictured in his selling catalogue from around 1910 saying in the that is has very old cloth on it.

So this one must be before 1850


I am trying to collect Murut stuf also now but this is more difficult because not much is written about it.

The handle off yours Bill looks like it have been smoke d but it is not.
they try to imitade the coler by smoking the have some black stuff that they use on the handle s.
It looks like this one is From Saribas North borneo I have one similar Iban.


The handle Carlos is from antler maybe but it is not made the way it should be it is an fantasy made handle maybe you understand now if you ever visit
Germany or the Netherlands you welcome her and I explain it to you


Regards

[Dajak]

Hi Carlos
My english also bad so somethimes hard to explain things for me.

And Bill thanks for the link but I have the books I used to have the original ones but difficult to use these old ones I have 2 new ones that easy to handle

Regards , ben

[paolo]

Hi all,
as You pheraphs know, I'm a beginner, so what do You think about this hilt ?
Was it really used, or is a recent item for tourist?
Thank You
Paolo

[Dajak]

Hi Paolo there is no heavely use of wear on the handle and no patina shown
on the wood .

Here are some pics off mandau handles and one wooden hadle from an murut sword so you can see what I mean with sign off wear Paolo

[Maurice]

I am also learning and I like these mandaus now for a year or so.
I try to learn as much as possible by looking on ebay (there you see how mostly tourist parts look)
And I look here on this forum and books and try to get pictures of other collectors and try to see the differents between them.

Although I bought a couple of weeks a mandau on ebay which I really liked.
And you don't see this patina good on the pictures, but in real it has the same patina as another one who I possess. That one I bought of someone who collects these items himself and I fully trust in selling no "touristic parts"
I enclose some pictures.