thanks all! for once, Facebook was good for something in regards to acquiring this piece
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I was wondering, looking at the blade, whether this sword might have started its existence to the south of the Philippines. The wide straight blade with deep fullers is unusual for a Moro piece. Also, the toe of the scabbard. Just reminds me of some that we have seen before that likely came from what is now N. Borneo/Malaysia. Just a thought. Do you think the blade might be older than 19th C.? It would be unusually heavy for an earlier Moro piece.
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i'm kinda thinking in the same line of thought, Ian, in regards to having some influence from farther south. a possibility would be whoever originally owned this was a transplant, or has traveled extensively down south. enough anyways to influence the style of the blade.
as far as age, i'm with Kai that the blade was most likely made around late 19th century, but of course, we can never know for sure.
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You mention that it is heavy: How does the blade feel when swinging it?
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it's balance, if that's what you want to know, but you could definitely feel some heft to it.
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I note that the clamp doesn't seem to be attached to the hilt; any ideas why the craftsmanship also looks a bit subpar?
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it's an optical illusion. the clamp was made to look like it's not connected. my thinking is, it was made that way so it won't look sloppy had it been wrapped with a strip of metal and tucked inside the handle. instead, what the panday did was soldered an L-shaped bracket under the clamp and slid it under the handle. slick, huh? notice the space under the clamp...
as far as the scabbard. i highly doubt this was a battle field pick up, given the condition it's in. i think it's just one of those Moro weapon idiosyncrasy: there's that one part in the whole ensemble that does not jive. the whole focus on this particular kris is on the handle and blade, so to show it off, it has to be out of the scabbard...