Go on... show us your Barung!!!

[Ian]

Originally Posted by ariel

Couple of months ago there were 3 barungs offered by a respectable auction house. Two were very handsome, and went for ~$1,500 ( as far as I remember).
The third one was very simple and even had no scabbard. But it has a yellowed paper glued to the blade with genuinely old inscription:

"Barong of the savage Moro. Taken from the Mag sabil devil Mahamet by Scout at Parang (a town on the main island of Sulu) and given to Sgt. Brewster, 1907".

Nobody bid on it, even though its expected price was $1,000 and starting price much lower.

Well, some people collect aesthetically pleasing pieces. And that's fine. But I kind of cannot understand why would they pass on a true piece of history....

I sent the address to Ian: I am not good manipulating images; hopefully he can give us an idea of what a true killing barung looked like.

The barung to which Ariel refers has subsequently been sold by the auction house (no price indicated). Here are pictures of this handsome 19th C. weapon that likely killed at least a few Americans and their Filipino allies.

The blade is approximat4ly 18.5 inches in length, which was fairly long for the period. It is clearly a cutting and a stabbing weapon. The hilt has a minimal kakatua pommel that is found on many fighting barung.

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[ariel]

Thanks Ian!