Barung with carved Antler(?) hilt.
 

Here’s a Barung with a hilt that looks to be carved from antler. Not your typical PI material.
Sandigan blade, laminated with linear pattern. Blades spine - 7cm.

Share your opinions on this.

Hello Albert,

Thanks for posting your new acquisition!

Looks like a quality blade. Any hints visible what made the tip chip?

While stag as hilt material is not really common with Moro pieces, I'm more wondering about the carving motifs at the pommel! The sleeve is on the short side and made from brass; this material and the less precise engraving of the brass makes me think of a commoner's piece. The braided bands certainly are genuine and antique.

The scabbard seems old, too. Close-ups of the carved throat and foot area wold be good.

All in all, I'd posit that this predates 1925 quite a bit and most likely is well into the 19th century.


7 mm thick?

Regards,
Kai

Hello Kai, yes 7 mm.

Below are closeups of the scabbard carvings.
I’m clueless on the blades tip. Perhaps the photo will reveal something.

Off the "top of my head" this looks like a typical injury of a too hard tempered piece where the tip was stuck in something, and levered out sideways. Often seen in Fairbairn-Sykes and other daggers.

Thanks David. An over-tempered, brittle tip would explain this type of damage.

The lines carved across the end of the hilt are reminiscent of Bagobo/Tagakaolu hilts from around what is now Davao City.

Thank you David.

Hi Ian, Does the profile of the pommel have the look of being from Davao and have you seen a similar material utilized in a Lumad or Moro hilt? Thanks.

Hi Kino,

In reply to you questions. Yes, the pommel has the general shape of Bagobo/Tagakaolo (aka Kaolo, Kaolu) hilts. I've attached a compilation of Bagobo/Tagakaolo hilts. The top left one shows the horizintal lines similar to your hilt. The three top left and the one bottom right are typical Bagobo/Tagakaolu hilts and show the same general profile to the pommel of your barung. Although you can't see the ends, they have the same lines as on the top left one. Each of these swords is at least a hundred years old.

The bottom left sword is a Datu-class weapon with a familiar high grade Bagobo hilt of traditional style. This sword has a small kampilan blade of excellent quality. It is probably mid-19th C.

The other two are of more recent manufacture (mid-20th C or a little later). The one in the middle on the bottom is a Lumad kris with a unique modern hilt. The top right one is another small kampilan and has a scabbard of a Zamboanga style.

I purchased nearly all of these in the Philippines in the 1990s/early 2000s.

As far as stag, I have not seen stag used on Lumad or Moro swords and knives. I have seen some American GI redos on Luzon knives that have used stag.

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For what it's worth, I think that the handle is made of bone. The reason I believe this is the presence of holes in the end of the material which indicate where blood vessels where. This is common for bone, but not antler or ivory. Bone might have been more commonly used than antler in that region.

Thanks for your comments. I tend to agree with you on the common use of bone vs. antler. However I believe that this is not bone.
Here are a couple of photos of antler that displays “holes”, that you mentioned.

Just for the record, deer antlers are classified as a type of bone. They have a hard outer cortical layer of dense calcified bone and an inner medullary cavity (bone marrow) that has blood forming tissues and fat as wellas a trabecular bone structure.

Ivory tusks, such as elephantine ivory, are different. They are outgrowths that resemble teeth. The tusk has an outer layer of enamel but most of it is dentine.

Rhino horn is an outgrowth from the skin and is composed of densely fibrous keratin throughout.