Sulawesi bangkung

[kai]

Hello Ian,

The gentleman who owned this knife served in the U.S. Army late in WW II. He enlisted in June, 1944 and saw action in the capture of Morotai (September 1944), a small island to the north-east of the Celebes, which served as a significant jumping off point for the invasion of the Philippines. He was later stationed in the Philippines after the Japanese surrender. He was discharged from the Army in 1946. He told me that he acquired the knife during his time on Morotai.

Great, it's rare to have a reasonable provenance for ethnic blades!So, unless we discover any evidence to the contrary, I'm fine with accepting that your example was collected on Morotai during WW2.

As Detlef wrote, Morotai does not exactly belong to the Bugis sphere of influence - it's traditionally part of the Ternate Sultanate; this important sultanate's sphere of influence once extended over Maluku towards eastern Sulawesi but declined during the later colonial era; OTOH I'm not aware of any direct Sulawesi (much less Bugis) links nor trade with Morotai during the 20th century. Seems like more thorough research is needed here!

Regards,
Kai

[RobT]

Hi All,

I picked up this knife a number of years ago. It doesn't have a hilt but does have a notch at the base of the blade. The designs on the sheath appear to have been made with pen and ink. There are designs on both sides of the sheath and the designs on one side differ from the designs on the other. Based on the designs, I had always suspected that the piece was peninsular Thai but after seeing this thread, I wonder if if it isn't a Sulawesi bankung. After all, the Bugis folks did get around. Blade (including tang) is 12" (30.5 cm) long.

Sincerely,
RobT

[kai]

Hello Rob,

I picked up this knife a number of years ago. It doesn't have a hilt but does have a notch at the base of the blade. The designs on the sheath appear to have been made with pen and ink. There are designs on both sides of the sheath and the designs on one side differ from the designs on the other. Based on the designs, I had always suspected that the piece was peninsular Thai but after seeing this thread, I wonder if if it isn't a Sulawesi bankung. After all, the Bugis folks did get around. Blade (including tang) is 12" (30.5 cm) long.

Thanks for posting this nice example! I've seen these from knife size to shortsword length with variable blade configurations.

This type is certainly Sumatran: I was going to post similar examples in a separate thread. The inked motifs on the scabbard of yours are of additional interest: This suggests a fairly northern origin! Could you please post close-ups to allow comparison with Aceh style motifs?

Regards,
Kai

[Sajen]

Agree with all Kai has said. And yes, please provide close-ups from the ink carvings.

Regards,
Detlef