Help with the Moro Kris/Kalis/Sundang

Ian · 3rd December 2024, 11:52 AM

Hi again IP,

In post #10 of this thread you show a sword that I did not comment on earlier. It is an older style of blade, with the "arrow head" feature. The "elephant trunk" area is also an older style. However, we don't know the length of the blade and the waves are rather flat for an archaic form of kris. The absence of side panels on this medium-sized kakatua pommel suggests an older form from before the mid-19th C. There are examples of these older forms being "updated" with nailed on side panels.

I would conservatively date this one to the first half of the 19th C, perhaps late 18th C.

The dress on the hilt is not typical Moro work because the cross section of the grip appears to be hexagonal (or possibly octagonal) rather than round. Multifaceted hilts are seen on some old Malayan sundang, continuing up to modern times. There is a nice example of such a hilt, shown recently in this thread, on a Malayan sundang in a Melayu scabbard.

3rd December 2024, 11:52 AM	#17
Ian Vikingsword Staff Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: The Aussie Bush Posts: 4,399	Hi again IP, In post #10 of this thread you show a sword that I did not comment on earlier. It is an older style of blade, with the "arrow head" feature. The "elephant trunk" area is also an older style. However, we don't know the length of the blade and the waves are rather flat for an archaic form of kris. The absence of side panels on this medium-sized kakatua pommel suggests an older form from before the mid-19th C. There are examples of these older forms being "updated" with nailed on side panels. I would conservatively date this one to the first half of the 19th C, perhaps late 18th C. The dress on the hilt is not typical Moro work because the cross section of the grip appears to be hexagonal (or possibly octagonal) rather than round. Multifaceted hilts are seen on some old Malayan sundang, continuing up to modern times. There is a nice example of such a hilt, shown recently in this thread, on a Malayan sundang in a Melayu scabbard.