Minasbad, Tenegre?

[xasterix]

Originally Posted by Sajen

Hello MacCathain,

I think that your sword coming from the Bicol region, see here: http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ighlight=bicol and the attached pictures from my own swords.
I am convinced that this is a typical blade form from the Bicol region, like you see in the provided thread that not all with me in agreement. Read the thread and built up your own opinion.
Sadly is your sword in poor condition and would benefit when you would give it a little bit care.
The last npicture shows the rather thick spines of my swords, you write that it is by your sword similar.

Regards,
Detlef

Completely agreed with Detlef and Jose. To add- I believe this particular antique sword (I'd say pre-ww2) comes from Iriga, Camarines Sur, one of the provinces in the Bicol region. Iriga is reputed to be the oldest among the many smithing towns in Bicol; they would call this blade profile as 'binakla.' Roughly translated, it means 'to be made gay.' The reason for this label is that the blade is a cross-breed between a minasbad and a ginunting (ginunting is generally a pointed-tip blade, with different variations per town). The foremost indicator of a binakla is a clip-point. I'm attaching a sample of a vintage binakla, as gleaned from the Facebook page "The Minasbad Shop."

The owner of the Minasbad Shop also explained that the reason why the sword is treated as 'gay' is because it's a union of male and female. The minasbad is viewed in Bicol blade culture as male, while the ginunting is female.