Batangas sword

[Royston]

I have been meaning to post this for some time.
I aquired it more than 20 years ago at a Wallis and Wallis auction in Lewis. It was being sold as a Parang Nabur and considering the picture in Stone's it is easy to see why.

Length is 72 cm with a 56 cm blade.
Thickness of the blade near the hilt is 11mm.

The hilt is of some very dark wood or horn covered with silver.
Knucklebow and crossguard are of iron or steel.

The scabbard is all wood.

All comments will be appreciated.

Regards
Roy

[Maurice]

Hello Roy,

What a Beautifull sword!
What I can see on your images the handle is made of horn.

is the protrusion at the handguard (at the side of the spine of the blade) broken off, or what could be the function of that little thing? (maybe it could be used as a blade taker/breaker?)

Oh, just for mentioning,.....I like thick blades over 1 cm thick... :-)

Is there any evidence that the brass (?) ferrule near the handguard is not original? I guess this was also one a silver one.

How are the silver dots connected in the horn? Are those silver nails?


Kind Regards,
Maurice

[katana]

Hi Roy,
nice sword......is it the photo's...I can see patterning in the blade....not certain whether you should etch though (I'll leave that to a more informed formite to advise).

Congrats

Best Regards David

[Dimasalang]

I don't think this sword is of Batangas. I know when some folks mention "from Southern Luzon" they think from Batangas...but the Bikol region is considered deep South Luzon. Bikol is known for this type of sword, which they call a Minasbad. Lorenz has more info on this sword.

[Battara]

What a great piece! Been looking for one like this. AND you have the scabbard as well! Thanks for posting this - very helpful since these don't seem to be very common.

Also I would etch the blade.

And thanks too to Dimasalang. Yes we had been told these were Batangas, but you seem to have better information - Bikol, and called a minasbad.

Wonderful!

[ThePepperSkull]

seconded! absolutely wonderful!

Monster-pommeled blades are quickly becoming a favourite of mine to see and read about on these forums.

Thank you all for the information and for sharing your collections with us!

[Royston]

Gentlemen

Thanks for the comments.

Maurice, I think you are correct about the brass ferule being a replacement. I cannot see why brass would have been used originally when all the rest is silver.

The dots appear to be nail heads.

I think that the iron protusion is to help centralize the sword into the scabbard. See the scan, it certainly helps to hold it in place. Whether it had another function - I have no idea.

I have been searching for other photos and came across an old thread by VVV ( Michael ) from 20th Feb 2006 which has been most helpful.

The only reason I called it Batangas was because of the information in the above thread and the brief arcticle from Eric's edge which seemed convincing.

It will be interesting to see the new information about the " Minasbad " if Lorenz will oblige ( Please )

regards
Roy

[Maurice]

Originally Posted by Royston

Maurice, I think you are correct about the brass ferule being a replacement. I cannot see why brass would have been used originally when all the rest is silver.

The dots appear to be nail heads.

I think that the iron protusion is to help centralize the sword into the scabbard. See the scan, it certainly helps to hold it in place. Whether it had another function - I have no idea.

Thanks Roy for your explanations.

I think you could be right about the iron protrusion, now I see the image of the sword in the scabbard.

Kind Regards,
Maurice

[migueldiaz]

Originally Posted by Royston

It will be interesting to see the new information about the " Minasbad " if Lorenz will oblige ( Please )

Hello Roy, I've just read all the links and sublinks, as cited above

I agree with the comments of Zelbone and Labantayo then, that the sword is from the Bicol region. That was very good research they did back then.

I also agree with Battara and Dimasalang that the name of this sword is "minasbad". Kindly refer to this article, written by a Bicolano professor and artist.

What's unique about Bicol is that culturally, it's partly Luzonian and partly Visayan. Thus whereas Luzon scabbards are traditionally made of leather, Bicol sheaths are commonly made of wood (just like in the Visayas). On the other hand, Bicol blades are traditionally non-chisel ground (while Visayan blades almost always are).

To all, and pardon the little off-topic, I'm busy lately developing the Facebook equivalent of my Filhistory.com. Please try and visit THIS LINK.

At the moment, I'm zooming in on the large-format pics archived at the Univ. of Michigan, and posting them there. A sample of such close-up is below.

If I find a pic pertaining to the subject sword, I'll certainly post it in this thread. What's nice about these original pics is that the full context of the sword is captured (e.g., the paraphernalia attached to the sword).

Regards to all,

"Miguel" or Lorenz in real life, and you all can call me anything you like

[Battara]

So YOU'RE the culprit! Great stuff. Maraming Salamat!

[Royston]

Miguel / Lorenz

Thank you very much

Regards
Roy

[Royston]

For those interested in more information on the Minasbad I have been pointed in the direction of these 2 sites.

www.bicolmail.com/issue/2009/july30/oyaxiv.html

http://www.fmapulse.com/content/fma-...marrones-bicol



Regards
Roy