Lew Waldman's Ethnographic Arms & Armour Collection Archive


1049 - Philippine Igorot Bontoc (Northern Luzon) Falfeg Barbed War Spear

This is nice antique example of the fal-feg barbed war spear typical of the Bontoc tribe of the northern Luzon highlands of the Philippines. The robust blade is 11 inches (28 cm) long with two barbs extending back from the point. Very faint lines extend briefly from the departure of each barb from the central spine and likely are a clue to the forged construction of this spear point. The central spine becomes nearly round as it approaches the wooden shaft and is just over ½ inch (1.3 cm) in diameter. The tanged blade is secured into the dark wooden shaft by a pin and with an iron ferrule formed from a strip with an overlapping weld. The edge towards the blade is reeded. The wooden shaft is bulbous (just under 1¾ inches or 4.3 cm) where the blade inserts; from there it tapers irregularly to a pointed end that, unfortunately, has lost a metal end piece. The blade has stable old corrosive dark spots without significant pitting and there are scattered non-distracting dings on the wooden shaft. Overall length is 57¾ inches (146 cm) with a weight of 32 ounces (909 grams).




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