Rencong with Hulu Puntung /rank or status ?

[kai]

Hello Willem,

Recently I bought a rencong with hulu puntung and the seller claimed that this type of hilt indicated a high rank within the village.

Have you asked him for his source?

There are some very simply carved, plain hulu puntung. OTOH, there are lots of gold/suasa decorated rencong with hulu meucangge, especially those with spiky crowns (tampo). There are quite a few ivory hulu puntung - guess that this is mainly due to limitations of the material though. OTOH, hulu puntung from akar bahar seem to be very rare while I've seen some hulu meucangge (too few hilts for sound statistics).

Based on the information I have, status is mostly determined by the materials (ivory/ silver / gold) and not by the shape.

I'd guess so, too.

Regards,
Kai