Good pieces given as gifts from a sultan I doubt would not be of the same value as what the datu or sultan would wear.

As far as the asang-asang is concerned, yes they are made to be tight. However, as time progresses, organic materials shrink (also depending upon the change of climate into which they are found) and so I am not totally surprised that some parts of a kris might not be as tight as originally made. Also don't forget, some later owners (me included) might play with them now and again, and if not careful may loosen parts in handling. How many times have I repaired pieces that were played with by little boys and now need restoration?

Also the style of silver work I find consistent with Sulu workmanship, even to that time period. Shrinkage and cleaning may be factors here.

Finally, I agree with David in that the gunong in question is not lower in quality but in fact a great piece with that great silver chasing work (I love good bling! :D )

Your wish is my command. :D

This barong is from the turn of the century and from a datu who gave it to the medical officer of General Macauthur in WWII. Notice the silver work that is of a similar style to Ron's kris. It is always possible that his is newer, but I doubt it. Sulu does not make this type of work anymore as far as I know.

That looks nice Jose. Forgive me for asking, but if the piece was presented in WWII isn't it possible that the work on the hilt is much later than turn of the century? Is that pommel turn of the century also because it was always my impression that this form of inlay style came much later? :shrug:

Actually Jose, i'll answer my own question since there is a very similar Barong on page 38 in Cato's book made of kamagong wood with ivory inlay. It also has similar silver work. It is not dated, but it seems to be lumped in with other late 19th and early 20th century barongs.

Actually no. The inlay style like this goes back to the 19th century. MOP inlay comes into vogue early in the 20th century. This inlay is ivory.

The junggayan style came in the late 19th century and more or less ended in the early 20th. Narrow time period. Definitely pre-WWII. I have seen other work like this from the 19th century from Sulu, but this is the only example I have in my arsenal to match.

And a very nice arsenal it is... :)

here's a photo of datu kalun and his family, sporting a similar type kris. datu kalun was a tagalog from cavite, (originally named pedro cuevas) who was a convict from the spaniard. on the way to zamboanga to do some jail time, he escaped and hid in Basilan. Yakans gave him a hard time, which led him to fight a local datu and ended up killing him. he converted to islam and eventually became the strongest datu in basilan. notice the mix of culture in that famil: the wife is wearing a shawl used by catholic known as mantilla, while his daughter next to him is holding a rosary, or tasbih, as the tausug would call it..
anyways, these kamagong ball type hilt (or any kamagong type hilt) are suppose to be popular on the southern part of sulu (tawi-tawi, bongao, etc.)
david, once i get the detail, i'll definitely let you know..

detail of datu kalun's kris:

Wow! Thanks for da close up, bro. Beautiful!

Yeah great close up and pictures - Salamat bro!

Wedges
 

Ron, that Maranao has wedges under both asang .

Funny, ain't it . :confused:

I don't think this is of major interest to this thread, but I've an observation also about the asang-asang that could be of importance.
A Sulu kris I have bought a while ago, came to me in very poor condition, with very rusty blade, not cleaned in what way so ever, crosspiece broken and so on.

The asang-asang of this piece also looks like it moved off the place where it belonged to be.
But I'm almost sure that not anyone would have done some efforts to restore this piece according the condition it came with me...
If he would have taken time to restore the asang-asang, he would probably fix the whole kris totally!

So I guess the reason an asang-asang is off its place, doesn't mean it isn't the real asang-asang..

Good point Maurice. Sometimes these can be a little off (like me :D ) because these are hand made.

LOL! I guess the word choice "off" wasn't the best one to use to make my statement!

I think I had to pay more attention when I was in English class a long time ago....

just a wild guess, rick... perhaps the asang2x was made a little too big and instead of ditching it, it was jury-rigged to fit. never seen one like that. that's pretty cool, tho...