Two Bolos For Comments
 

Here are my two latest finds, a pair of Luzon Bolos. The upper bolo with the file work on the blade I believe to be from the first half of the 20th century while the lower I believe to be from the first quarter of the 20th century. The hilt on the upper bolo is horn and has brass fittings and what appears to be a glass bead embedded in each side of the hilt. :confused: It also has a hole drilled through the grip probably for a lanyard. The hilt on the lower is wood with iron fittings and the blade has an inserted edge and some heavy pitting. :( It also has CS stamped into the blade? The leather scabbard has hardened to the point of feeling like wood. :eek: As usual, sorry about the poor picture quality. All comments on these are very welcome.


Upper Bolo
Blade length = 14"
Blade at widest = 1-9/16"
Blade at thickest = 11/32"
Total length = 20-1/2"

Lower Bolo
Blade length = 14-1/4"
Blade at widest = 2"
Blade at thickest = 13/32"
Total length = 20-1/2"

I am not saying it is the case in this example but I have seen many Philippine pieces over the years that have had CS and also CSA stamped into the blade in an obvious attempt to associate the piece with the American Civil War. I even once ran across a nice ivory hilted khyber knife with a CS stamped into the blade!

I agree with Rsword. I too have seen CS stamped on PI pieces like these to fake Confederate pieces. Evil really.......

Rsword and Jose, Thank you for your replies on why the CS is on the blade. It seems such a shame what some people will do to try to make money. :( One thing that I just noticed about the CS is that it was not stamped into the blade but was actually engraved deeply into it. The other thing that I'm interested in finding out about are the Faceted glass or crystal beads that are embedded into the grip on the one bolo. Do they have any special meaning or are they just there for decoration? They are held in place by a horn pin that goes up from the bottom of the grip and apparently through a hole in the ends or center of the beads. Again my thanks for your time and help.

Robert

I would suspect that the bead may be talismanic, an anting-anting.