View Single Post
Old 11th September 2025, 10:56 AM   #7
Ian
Vikingsword Staff
 
Ian's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: The Aussie Bush
Posts: 4,469
Default

Hi Detlef.

A separate gangya occurred on some Moro kris blades made in the second half of the 20th C, and even on blades made today by traditional panday. Malayan blades still preserve a separate gangya on their large kris form.

I suspect that Yves' blade may date from the 1930s-1940s. The markedly V-shaped tip is a post-1900 feature. The "arrow head" carved areas have flat grooves with square shoulders, suggesting to me the use of power tools to create them. A similar arrow head appearance occurs sometimes on Malayan kris blades from the mid-1900s and later (I am using kris to refer to the large, Moro-like, Malayan kris, not to Malayan keris).

Despite being relatively recent, the various styles of 20th C Moro kris have not been dated precisely.
Ian is offline   Reply With Quote