Carved Dayak Ear Ring

Bill M · 24th April 2005, 05:13 PM

OK Ian, pictures of a Dayak ear ring. Carved from hornbill about 4 inches long.

I love the Dayak art. I am getting a new book about how the Dayak put so much importance in their art that:

"He [the author] shows how art was used as a pre-literate scholastic aptitude test to ensure intelligent Iban married other intelligent Iban to increase the likelihood that their children were intelligent and were more likely to prosper. Women also chose men on the basis of their prowess at war to ensure the household, physically, was secure. That meant heads and headhunting."

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...=UTF8&v=glance

Comments?

Ian · 25th April 2005, 12:24 AM

Thanks Bill.

Gorgeous piece of carving. I really enjoy the Dayak work.

Ian.

Dajak · 25th April 2005, 11:14 PM

Hi the Iban book is not yet on the market it will take a few weeks before it is ready it is not printed yet

Bill M · 25th April 2005, 11:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dajak

Hi the Iban book is not yet on the market it will take a few weeks before it is ready it is not printed yet

I know. Have pre-ordered it.

Battara · 26th April 2005, 02:03 PM

W

W! Didn't know they were that big! Thanks for the pictures, Bill. I also love Dayak art and had thought at one time about getting some Dayak earpieces.

asomotif · 2nd January 2007, 05:25 PM

Dear All,

Are there collectors that have real old ear-rings made from Hornbill ivory ?
Enclosed some that I have collected about 5 years ago. Now I am slowly finding out that these are recently cut, as they turn up everywhere, also on ebay and sometimes even for ridiculous low prices.
Anyway it looks like most are made too recent to be healthy for the Hornbiil population in Borneo.

Any expertise amongst us on age of these pieces ?

Thanks,
willem

VANDOO · 2nd January 2007, 08:30 PM

THE HORNBILL IVORY HAS BEEN IN DEMAND FOR A VERY LONG TIME THE CHINESE TRADERS WERE FOND OF IT LONG AGO. I SUSPECT THAT THESE DAYS THE DEMAND FOR HORNBILL ITEMS IS NOT AS HIGH AS IT WAS IN THE PAST AS THE LOCAL POPULATIONS DON'T WEAR THEM MUCH ANYMORE. I DOUBT THAT THE NUMBER OF HORNBILL EARING COLLECTORS TODAY ARE AS GREAT AS THE DEMAND OF THE ORIGINAL TRIBES IN THE PAST. I KNOW THE HORNBILL AND ARGUS PHESANT FEATHERS ARE STILL IN DEMAND FOR CEREMONIAL OCCASIONS BUT THESE CAN BE MORE EFFECIENTLY GATHERED BY RAISING THE BIRDS FOR THE FEATHERS THAN BY KILLING THEM. SO I WOULD IMAGINE LOSS OF HABITAT AND FOOD SOURCES MAY BE MORE OF A DANGER TO THE BIRDS TODAY THAN THE FASHON OF WEARING THE EARRINGS. I COULD BE WRONG BUT LACKING ANY STUDIES ON THE SUBJECT IT WOULD BE MY BEST GUESS.

HERE IS AN OLD PICTURE OF HORNBILL EARRINGS BEING WORN, AND THE HEAVY BRASS ONES BEING WORN.

Albert · 2nd January 2007, 09:21 PM

I am a bit confused

Are we talking about "M. Heppell: Iban Art, Sexual Selection and Severed Heads"?
That has been published in 2005, and already is mentioned in this forum before. Or is there a new publication on its way?

Albert

Dajak · 2nd January 2007, 09:56 PM

Take a look at the first date Albert

Ben

Albert · 2nd January 2007, 10:25 PM

Thank you Ben, you woke me up.

Albert

asomotif · 3rd January 2007, 03:47 PM

Thanks Vandoo for the info and pictures.
I checked google for info on this species and both loss of habitat and hunting are mentioned as a threat.

Any more people with nice pictures of (old) earrings ?
Any info maybe also on when they where allowed to wear them.

Ps. Albert, sorry for waking you up

I am new on the forum and just discovering some old interesting threads

Best regards,
Willem

Ps. enclosed the sideviews of the earrings I have.

Marcokeris · 4th January 2007, 11:19 AM

The first photo is a dayak from Sellato book "Hornbill & Dragon "
The second an ear ring from the same book
The third photo are two my ear rings (one old

, anaother new)
The last are two photos I did in Bali to a ..(I think new).. hornbill skull (i didn't buy it because the stink of flash was terrific)

VANDOO · 5th January 2007, 02:26 AM

THE PICTURE OF THE HORNBILL SKULL IS GOOD AS IT SHOWS THE PART USED TO MAKE THE EARINGS I THINK IT IS CALLED THE CASKE, THE FRONT IS CARVED AND CUT OFF IN FRONT OF THE EYES AND THE UPPER BILL IS CUT DOWN AND CURVED TO FORM THE HOOK FOR THE EAR. THERE ARE SEVERAL DIFFERENT SPECIES OF HORNBILL IN THE AREA AND OTHERS ARE USED SOMETIMES BUT THIS TYPE IS THE PREFERRED ONE FOR DAYAK EARRINGS.

VANDOO · 5th January 2007, 02:33 AM

THE DAYAKS ALSO ARE MASTER CARVERS OF HORN, WOOD,BONE AND ANTLER. I HAVE A FEW PICTURES OF CARVED SKULLS THAT I WILL SHARE HERE AS THEY ARE INTERESTING ALSO.

Bill M · 5th January 2007, 04:12 AM

Due to ongoing habitat lost and hunted in some areas, the Helmeted Hornbill is evaluated as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It is listed on Appendix I of CITES.

If eBay realizes someone is trying to sell HB products, they will pull the ad. You can also get in trouble with US Customs trying to bring HB products into the US.

I have a few other Hornbill carving that are old and are supposed to have been here before CITES.

However I understand the problem with people hunting them for the ivory and feathers. The birds have magnificent feathers also, some over a meter (40") long.

The bird itself with tail feathers can grow to 64" -- 5 feet 4 inches -- or 160cm long

Mytribalworld · 5th January 2007, 01:03 PM

Hi Guys,

here's my one and only hornbill piece
see that the intension firtsly was to carve the side also with scroll work.
I think they first wanted to make an earring but probably they changed their mind or the broke the upperpart?

Arjan.

Mytribalworld · 5th January 2007, 01:06 PM

did you know there where once also where mini hornbills?
the piece here on the pandat is only about 1 cm!

asomotif · 5th January 2007, 05:34 PM

Enclosed some other pictures.

Feeling I have is that old earrings have a lot of open sides and less decoration on top. But this is all from books.
Are their no old ones in private collections amongst us ?

Dajak · 5th January 2007, 05:40 PM

Hi here some earrings the most off the stuff in the pic is from the famous collector Herbert Da Silva.

Ben

VANDOO · 5th January 2007, 05:59 PM

A FEW MORE CARVED SKULLS IF I CAN GET THEM TO COME THRU.
WELL 3 OUT OF 4 IS GOOD ENOUGH. THE TOP ONE IS A BEAR SKULL THE TEETH ARE OFTEN SEEN ATTACHED TO MANDAU AND OTHER DAYAK ITEMS. I AM NOT SURE IF IT IS FROM A SLOTH BEAR OR A SUN BEAR BUT I THINK IT IS ONE OR THE OTHER. THE OTHER IS A BOAR SKULL THE TUSKS ARE OFTEN USED IN DAYAK DECOR AS WELL AS CARVED BONES ARE OFTEN USED ON SOME MANDAU SCABBARDS MOSTLY FROM KALAMANTAN(THE INDONESIAN PART OF BORNEO) THE APE SKULL IN THE PREVIOUS POST
IS DEFINITELY DAYAK BUT I AM NOT ABSOLUTELY SURE THAT THE HORSE SKULL AND HUMAN SKULL ARE THEY MIGHT BE FROM TIMOR.

VANDOO · 5th January 2007, 06:06 PM

A FEW EXAMPLES OF CHINESE HORNBILL CARVED SNUFF BOTTLES.

asomotif · 9th January 2007, 12:57 PM

[/QUOTE]

The bear will be the Sun Bear / Helarctos Malaynus, Sloth Bears do not live on Borneo. The Sun Bear is on Cites list I, being near threathned by loss of habitat due to deforesting and hunting for their fur and for chinese medicines.
I must say, the more I find out about this the more I feel people should avoid buying these objects. The brown skull you see in this thread are almost certainly very recently killed animals. The skulls are covered with some brown colour to give the idea of age. However age has nothing to do with it.
I think these all come from a certain ebay seller that ships from Bali.

The horse skull looks like Timor tourist material, and the human skull is Borneo and depicted in a catalogue to an exhibition from the Coppens collection.

But, still no pictures of good old Hornbill earrings from Borneo.
really none amongst the Vikinsword members ?

Bill M · 9th January 2007, 02:43 PM

I guess we don't collect earrings much, my only HB earring is the one starting this thread. However I have a few other Dayak carved pieces. Here is a complete HB skull. I would doubt it is old.

My wife keeps it in her "kitchen gallery" on top of the microwave.

I also have a few more HB pieces that are part of Dayak "belt decorations," (beads and bells) and a recent, but nicely done boar skull.

Dajak · 9th January 2007, 10:12 PM

Hi Willem the real old hornbill earrings are very rare and can mostly only find in the museums the last old one s I did see at an gallery in Amsterdam
but the price was to high for me

Ben

ronpakis · 10th January 2007, 08:12 PM

hi ben,

did that one happen to be from polak? if so i was wondering what the price was. i did see it at pan amsterdam but after i heared the price of other items i did not dare to ask what that might cost.

greetings, sander

Dajak · 11th January 2007, 06:28 PM

Yes it was Polak his prices are high but also the quality

I was in 1982 at Kunst en Kits with an madjopahit kriss ( I stil have the tape and the kris )
he examen this one and by than he says it was worth 1450,00 guilders
And tryed after the tv show it to buy from me for 1600,00 guilders that was funny

But he have high class stuff

regards Ben

ronpakis · 11th January 2007, 07:15 PM

i saw his stuff at the pan and yes very high quality. it's funny but i also had the feeling that he often values things lesser than what he would sell it for. of course you'll also pay for "the name" but after my visit at the pan i had a very good feeling about my own collection. have you seen the karo batak earrings also? i wanted to buy those but again prices to high for me.

greetings sander

Bill M · 11th January 2007, 11:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dajak

Yes it was Polak his prices are high but also the quality

I was in 1982 at Kunst en Kits with an madjopahit kriss ( I stil have the tape and the kris )
he examen this one and by than he says it was worth 1450,00 guilders
And tryed after the tv show it to buy from me for 1600,00 guilders that was funny

But he have high class stuff

regards Ben

Hi Ben,

Don't quite understand. 1450 guilders is about $850USD. This does not seem a lot of money for a good Majapahit keris. Are you saying that he offered a low price?

asomotif · 12th January 2007, 09:05 AM

How were prices in 1982 ?

I was 13 years and on an allowance of about Usd 5 a week

Dajak · 12th January 2007, 04:36 PM

Hi Bill yes he was offering an very low price but you now to make money he have for to sell it triple the price so that was the valeu at that time because this was real old from the 12 or 13 cht .

very hard to get these days with scabbard that in his word was at least 250 years old

Ben (willem jij had toen al geld genoeg 5 per week)

24th April 2005, 05:13 PM	#1
Bill M Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: USA Georgia Posts: 1,599	Carved Dayak Ear Ring OK Ian, pictures of a Dayak ear ring. Carved from hornbill about 4 inches long. I love the Dayak art. I am getting a new book about how the Dayak put so much importance in their art that: "He [the author] shows how art was used as a pre-literate scholastic aptitude test to ensure intelligent Iban married other intelligent Iban to increase the likelihood that their children were intelligent and were more likely to prosper. Women also chose men on the basis of their prowess at war to ensure the household, physically, was secure. That meant heads and headhunting." http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...=UTF8&v=glance Comments? Attached Images

25th April 2005, 12:24 AM	#2
Ian Vikingsword Staff Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: The Aussie Bush Posts: 4,204	Wow Thanks Bill. Gorgeous piece of carving. I really enjoy the Dayak work. Ian.

25th April 2005, 11:14 PM	#3
Dajak Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 951	Iban Book Hi the Iban book is not yet on the market it will take a few weeks before it is ready it is not printed yet

2nd January 2007, 05:25 PM	#6
asomotif Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 2,225	Dear All, Are there collectors that have real old ear-rings made from Hornbill ivory ? Enclosed some that I have collected about 5 years ago. Now I am slowly finding out that these are recently cut, as they turn up everywhere, also on ebay and sometimes even for ridiculous low prices. Anyway it looks like most are made too recent to be healthy for the Hornbiil population in Borneo. Any expertise amongst us on age of these pieces ? Thanks, willem Attached Images

2nd January 2007, 08:30 PM	#7
VANDOO (deceased) Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: OKLAHOMA, USA Posts: 3,138	THE HORNBILL IVORY HAS BEEN IN DEMAND FOR A VERY LONG TIME THE CHINESE TRADERS WERE FOND OF IT LONG AGO. I SUSPECT THAT THESE DAYS THE DEMAND FOR HORNBILL ITEMS IS NOT AS HIGH AS IT WAS IN THE PAST AS THE LOCAL POPULATIONS DON'T WEAR THEM MUCH ANYMORE. I DOUBT THAT THE NUMBER OF HORNBILL EARING COLLECTORS TODAY ARE AS GREAT AS THE DEMAND OF THE ORIGINAL TRIBES IN THE PAST. I KNOW THE HORNBILL AND ARGUS PHESANT FEATHERS ARE STILL IN DEMAND FOR CEREMONIAL OCCASIONS BUT THESE CAN BE MORE EFFECIENTLY GATHERED BY RAISING THE BIRDS FOR THE FEATHERS THAN BY KILLING THEM. SO I WOULD IMAGINE LOSS OF HABITAT AND FOOD SOURCES MAY BE MORE OF A DANGER TO THE BIRDS TODAY THAN THE FASHON OF WEARING THE EARRINGS. I COULD BE WRONG BUT LACKING ANY STUDIES ON THE SUBJECT IT WOULD BE MY BEST GUESS. HERE IS AN OLD PICTURE OF HORNBILL EARRINGS BEING WORN, AND THE HEAVY BRASS ONES BEING WORN. Attached Images

26th April 2005, 02:03 PM	#5
Battara EAAF Staff Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Louisville, KY Posts: 7,226	W W! Didn't know they were that big! Thanks for the pictures, Bill. I also love Dayak art and had thought at one time about getting some Dayak earpieces.

2nd January 2007, 09:21 PM	#8
Albert Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 194	I am a bit confused Are we talking about "M. Heppell: Iban Art, Sexual Selection and Severed Heads"? That has been published in 2005, and already is mentioned in this forum before. Or is there a new publication on its way? Albert

2nd January 2007, 09:56 PM	#9
Dajak Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 951	Take a look at the first date Albert Ben

2nd January 2007, 10:25 PM	#10
Albert Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 194	Thank you Ben, you woke me up. Albert

3rd January 2007, 03:47 PM	#11
asomotif Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 2,225	Thanks Vandoo for the info and pictures. I checked google for info on this species and both loss of habitat and hunting are mentioned as a threat. Any more people with nice pictures of (old) earrings ? Any info maybe also on when they where allowed to wear them. Ps. Albert, sorry for waking you up I am new on the forum and just discovering some old interesting threads Best regards, Willem Ps. enclosed the sideviews of the earrings I have. Attached Images

4th January 2007, 11:19 AM	#12
Marcokeris Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Italy Posts: 928	The first photo is a dayak from Sellato book "Hornbill & Dragon " The second an ear ring from the same book The third photo are two my ear rings (one old , anaother new) The last are two photos I did in Bali to a ..(I think new).. hornbill skull (i didn't buy it because the stink of flash was terrific) Attached Images

5th January 2007, 02:26 AM	#13
VANDOO (deceased) Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: OKLAHOMA, USA Posts: 3,138	THE PICTURE OF THE HORNBILL SKULL IS GOOD AS IT SHOWS THE PART USED TO MAKE THE EARINGS I THINK IT IS CALLED THE CASKE, THE FRONT IS CARVED AND CUT OFF IN FRONT OF THE EYES AND THE UPPER BILL IS CUT DOWN AND CURVED TO FORM THE HOOK FOR THE EAR. THERE ARE SEVERAL DIFFERENT SPECIES OF HORNBILL IN THE AREA AND OTHERS ARE USED SOMETIMES BUT THIS TYPE IS THE PREFERRED ONE FOR DAYAK EARRINGS. Attached Images

5th January 2007, 02:33 AM	#14
VANDOO (deceased) Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: OKLAHOMA, USA Posts: 3,138	THE DAYAKS ALSO ARE MASTER CARVERS OF HORN, WOOD,BONE AND ANTLER. I HAVE A FEW PICTURES OF CARVED SKULLS THAT I WILL SHARE HERE AS THEY ARE INTERESTING ALSO. Attached Images

5th January 2007, 04:12 AM	#15
Bill M Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: USA Georgia Posts: 1,599	Helmeted Hornbill -- Rhinoplax vigil Due to ongoing habitat lost and hunted in some areas, the Helmeted Hornbill is evaluated as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It is listed on Appendix I of CITES. If eBay realizes someone is trying to sell HB products, they will pull the ad. You can also get in trouble with US Customs trying to bring HB products into the US. I have a few other Hornbill carving that are old and are supposed to have been here before CITES. However I understand the problem with people hunting them for the ivory and feathers. The birds have magnificent feathers also, some over a meter (40") long. The bird itself with tail feathers can grow to 64" -- 5 feet 4 inches -- or 160cm long Attached Images

5th January 2007, 01:03 PM	#16
Mytribalworld Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 400	Hi Guys, here's my one and only hornbill piece see that the intension firtsly was to carve the side also with scroll work. I think they first wanted to make an earring but probably they changed their mind or the broke the upperpart? Arjan. Attached Images

5th January 2007, 01:06 PM	#17
Mytribalworld Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 400	O did you know there where also mini Hornbills? did you know there where once also where mini hornbills? the piece here on the pandat is only about 1 cm! Attached Images

5th January 2007, 05:34 PM	#18
asomotif Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 2,225	Enclosed some other pictures. Feeling I have is that old earrings have a lot of open sides and less decoration on top. But this is all from books. Are their no old ones in private collections amongst us ? Attached Images

5th January 2007, 05:40 PM	#19
Dajak Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 951	Hi here some earrings the most off the stuff in the pic is from the famous collector Herbert Da Silva. Ben Attached Images

5th January 2007, 05:59 PM	#20
VANDOO (deceased) Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: OKLAHOMA, USA Posts: 3,138	A FEW MORE CARVED SKULLS IF I CAN GET THEM TO COME THRU. WELL 3 OUT OF 4 IS GOOD ENOUGH. THE TOP ONE IS A BEAR SKULL THE TEETH ARE OFTEN SEEN ATTACHED TO MANDAU AND OTHER DAYAK ITEMS. I AM NOT SURE IF IT IS FROM A SLOTH BEAR OR A SUN BEAR BUT I THINK IT IS ONE OR THE OTHER. THE OTHER IS A BOAR SKULL THE TUSKS ARE OFTEN USED IN DAYAK DECOR AS WELL AS CARVED BONES ARE OFTEN USED ON SOME MANDAU SCABBARDS MOSTLY FROM KALAMANTAN(THE INDONESIAN PART OF BORNEO) THE APE SKULL IN THE PREVIOUS POST IS DEFINITELY DAYAK BUT I AM NOT ABSOLUTELY SURE THAT THE HORSE SKULL AND HUMAN SKULL ARE THEY MIGHT BE FROM TIMOR. Attached Images Last edited by VANDOO; 5th January 2007 at 09:26 PM.

5th January 2007, 06:06 PM	#21
VANDOO (deceased) Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: OKLAHOMA, USA Posts: 3,138	A FEW EXAMPLES OF CHINESE HORNBILL CARVED SNUFF BOTTLES. Attached Images

9th January 2007, 12:57 PM	#22
asomotif Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 2,225	[/QUOTE] The bear will be the Sun Bear / Helarctos Malaynus, Sloth Bears do not live on Borneo. The Sun Bear is on Cites list I, being near threathned by loss of habitat due to deforesting and hunting for their fur and for chinese medicines. I must say, the more I find out about this the more I feel people should avoid buying these objects. The brown skull you see in this thread are almost certainly very recently killed animals. The skulls are covered with some brown colour to give the idea of age. However age has nothing to do with it. I think these all come from a certain ebay seller that ships from Bali. The horse skull looks like Timor tourist material, and the human skull is Borneo and depicted in a catalogue to an exhibition from the Coppens collection. But, still no pictures of good old Hornbill earrings from Borneo. really none amongst the Vikinsword members ?

9th January 2007, 02:43 PM	#23
Bill M Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: USA Georgia Posts: 1,599	I guess we don't collect earrings much, my only HB earring is the one starting this thread. However I have a few other Dayak carved pieces. Here is a complete HB skull. I would doubt it is old. My wife keeps it in her "kitchen gallery" on top of the microwave. I also have a few more HB pieces that are part of Dayak "belt decorations," (beads and bells) and a recent, but nicely done boar skull. Attached Images

9th January 2007, 10:12 PM	#24
Dajak Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 951	Hi Willem the real old hornbill earrings are very rare and can mostly only find in the museums the last old one s I did see at an gallery in Amsterdam but the price was to high for me Ben

10th January 2007, 08:12 PM	#25
ronpakis Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: netherlands Posts: 75	hb in amsterdam hi ben, did that one happen to be from polak? if so i was wondering what the price was. i did see it at pan amsterdam but after i heared the price of other items i did not dare to ask what that might cost. greetings, sander

11th January 2007, 06:28 PM	#26
Dajak Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 951	Yes it was Polak his prices are high but also the quality I was in 1982 at Kunst en Kits with an madjopahit kriss ( I stil have the tape and the kris ) he examen this one and by than he says it was worth 1450,00 guilders And tryed after the tv show it to buy from me for 1600,00 guilders that was funny But he have high class stuff regards Ben

11th January 2007, 07:15 PM	#27
ronpakis Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: netherlands Posts: 75	polak i saw his stuff at the pan and yes very high quality. it's funny but i also had the feeling that he often values things lesser than what he would sell it for. of course you'll also pay for "the name" but after my visit at the pan i had a very good feeling about my own collection. have you seen the karo batak earrings also? i wanted to buy those but again prices to high for me. greetings sander

12th January 2007, 09:05 AM	#29
asomotif Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 2,225	How were prices in 1982 ? I was 13 years and on an allowance of about Usd 5 a week

12th January 2007, 04:36 PM	#30
Dajak Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 951	Hi Bill yes he was offering an very low price but you now to make money he have for to sell it triple the price so that was the valeu at that time because this was real old from the 12 or 13 cht . very hard to get these days with scabbard that in his word was at least 250 years old Ben (willem jij had toen al geld genoeg 5 per week)