Is this even a Barung?

[Spunjer]

one of the more unusual filipino/moro weapons i ever came across. can't figure out how to categorize this particular piece. it has features from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao...
so let me start.
Scabbard
this one is easy. Moro. Tausug to be exact

Handle
this one is a head-scratcher. the overall feel is that of a barung. it has the typical weaved ferrule one normally sees on everyday kris or barung. handle is bunti, another common material used in olden Mindanao/Sulu, but what's unusual is the pommel, which is carved into a deity-like image similarly found in Panay/Negros area. it even has fang-like teeth fashioned in silver. the cap, i believe it's suppose to be the hair, is also silver. so are the bulging eyes.
the D-guard is made out of brass, more likely harvested from a European sword.
the ferrule is silver as well, and it's abbreviated, heptagonal in shape. reminds me of some of the swords found in Luzon.

The Blade
this is where i gave up.
it is laminated, as you can clearly see in the pictures. at first glance, the overall shape is that of a typical barung, but looking closely, it actually has a clipped point with false edge. it's about a quarter of an inch thick closest to the handle. total length of the blade is about 15.75". the blade has symbols on both sides, not sure if they are talismanic in nature since it's unlike any pattern i've seen before, although there are a few ukkil towards the tip symbolizing waves. the spine is covered with diagonal hash marks, and as it get closer to the handle these marks turns into multiple "x". the corner of these "x" continues to the flat part of the blade.

so what do i make of this? i have no clue. one possibility is that whoever originally owned this must have been a freed slave from the Visayan region that decided to stay in the area and became an accepted member of the tribe.

otherwise though, i thought it's a rather unique piece.

comments are welcome

[Ian]

Hi Ron:

Is that scabbard original to the blade. The down turned quillion on the hilt would not seem to fit well into the mouth of the scabbard. Otherwise, I'd say it was pretty much a Visayan mess. A bit from here, a bit from there, but no consistent traditional pattern.

I don't think this started out as a barung blade. It's a little narrow perhaps, although more recent examples can be this narrow. The file work on the spine could be Visayan (or Tagalog), but I have no idea what the engravings on the blade may represent.

Interesting non-traditional piece. An old fantasy sword perhaps?

Ian.

[Battara]

I almost bid on this.

Interesting piece full of influences.

So you got it...........

[VANDOO]

THE DESIGNS ON THE BLADE LOOK LIKE A CHINESE DESIGN KNOWN AS A FIRE PEARL. DRAGONS ARE OFTEN REPRESENTED SEEKING TO CAPTURE THEM. I THINK THEY ARE A SYMBOL OF POWER. I HAVE NOT SEEN A SERIES OF THEM TOGETHER BEFORE, SO POSSIBLY CHINESE INFLUENCE AS WELL AS PHILIPPINE. A NICE INTERESTING ITEM CONGRATULATIONS. JERRY LEE LEWIS WOULD NO DOUBT SAY " GOODNESS GRACIOUS GREAT BALLS OF FIRE ".

[Spunjer]

thanks for that tidbit, Barry, in regards to the symbols on the blade. it's definitely not ukkil (except for the ones closest to the tip), or any talismanic symbols I've seen. that would make a lot of sense. the pommel part of the handle could also be construed as a dragon, rather than the deity pommel we see on Visayan swords. Sulu has a large Chinese population. the blade material is another clue. we see a few of those blades with Chinese chopmarks signifying a better quality metal. btw, this wasn't even etched, rather, it was ran through hot water, dried, and applied with mineral oil. also, with the D-guard on the handle, the overall profile is somewhat similar to a Chinese butterfly knife.

so that's another possibility, that this piece was made for a Chinese that immigrated to Sulu, or a Chinese that has sword making knowledge from the old country and made a facsimile of a barung for himself.



Jose, didn't realize this was on ebay. I picked this up last week somewhere in North Carolina on my way to the Outer Banks, lol.

Ian, good point on the scabbard. The quillion does interfere with it going all the way in, but otherwise, it fits just right. I don't think it's original either. Another possibility: it fit, so the original owner decided to recycle and reused it, or it could've been added later on by a collector . I can see why you're thinking that this has been Frankensteined somehow since it doesn't fit in any of Cato's classification, or a Moro/Filipino counterpart of Gil Hibben back in the olden days that decided to make a fantasy sword (btw, that came in much, much later, and you can see all of these around Ermita). I'm hesitant to label this as a "Visayan mess" either. a few things:

1) The handle is carved from banati wood. I'm not saying it's never been done, but I've never seen any Visayan handle made from this wood. it could be a first, but I highly doubt this. it has a similar hue with old barung handles, something that can only be achieved with time.

2) The handle wrap is Moro in style. the few times I've seen twines used by Visayans as a grip was wrapped in a very simple manner, as in one pass and not weaved like this piece:
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showpo...64&postcount=7 (bottom pic)
on weaved grips, rattans are used in Cebu, Samar and Leyte. even that's not as complicated as the way this was weaved.

3) The palias (talismanic "x" and hash marks) on the spine is a common practice throughout the archipelago. you can see some of these on a few panabas

4) The overall blade design is definitely not Visayan. and another thing, it doesn't have a chiseled edge. i'll give you the clipped point part of it, but then again, some Moro blades have those as well. as for the size, here's a barung for comparison. at the wide point, it's about 3/16 of an inch difference.

[Ian]

Ron:

All good points. With respect to a V-ground blade, one does see those coming from Cebu and that might be a possibility. I agree that the basketry on the hilt looks more Moro rather than Visayan, and the banati wood on the hilt (not obvious in the pics) would suggest a Moro origin.

As I saw your picture of a more typical barung blade adjacent to this mystery one, I was reminded that the barung blades from Sabah/North Borneo have this clipped appearance, are less convex on the spine, and are narrower than most Moro barung. Their blades are also frequently engraved with designs. Do you think this might be from Sabah or even Brunei perhaps?

Ian.

[Battara]

Ian I had not considered Sabah, although I see the strong Visayan influence in the hilt.

BTW - I know Gil Hibben. He even tested me for one of my belts long ago. Has a great workshop and house.....great guy.....😄

[Sajen]

Hello Ron,

what a beautiful and unusual barong. I could be completely wrong but the handle has IMVHO more Bicol features as Visayan features.
But from wherever the mix coming, I am green with envy.

Regards,
Detlef

[Spunjer]

Hello Ian,
Sabah is another candidate, but IMHO, i believe this particular piece is strictly philippines/sulu. like Jose said, the handle has a lot of Visayan flavor in it.
Detlef,
that could be a possibility as well. the pommel could be construed as a bat, which is a popular motif in Bicol. incidentally, this area is in the outskirts of the Visayan region, which would have a lot of influence in design.

here's a story: during the last quarter of 19th century, there was a Tagalog by the name of Pedro Cuevas who was a fugitive from Cavite. he was sent to Zamboanga to serve his sentence, and from there, escaped to Basilan. The Yakans challenged him, and ended up killing their leader. he was eventually accepted by the tribe and was bestowed the title of Datu. He became Datu Kalun, who lead the Yakans until his death. i believe his personal kris has a crucifix, in honor of his religious belief.
i don't think this was an isolated case. i could see some other filipinos doing this. perhaps who owned this particular piece was from visayan/bicol region who moved to Sulu, and decided to decorate his personal piece with something he was familiar with.
picture of Datu Kalun