Presumed Philippine?

[xasterix]

Originally Posted by chmorshuutz

I imagine Philippine collectors would be drooling over this. I heard that dipalata of Aeta people is supposedly the rarest Philippine traditional blade.

Halloo! While "dipalata" is a very rare blade, IMO it's not the rarest. I've seen at least 12 (the one in this post is the 12th) samples of it already. The rarest is an extra-long hinalung-like sword from the Cordilleras (I've only ever seen one antique sample of such), the next rarest would be extra-long Pangasinan talunasan (I only know of three old samples of that).

Anyway, to get back to the topic at hand- I believe "dipalata" may be an assembled/hybrid blade; the Aeta from Central Luzon, particularly Zambales, have been documented to buy or commission blades from pandays in lowland areas (especially Apalit, Pampanga). Afterwards, they may have dressed up these blades according to their tribe's aesthetic traditions.

I'll try to look into it in the future, and find more evidence to substantiate my theory.

[David R]

Truthfully,... and sadly, some or even many western museums have a "lost in transit" problem. Some of them of the highest repute!

[Ian]

Originally Posted by xasterix

...Anyway, to get back to the topic at hand- I believe "dipalata" may be an assembled/hybrid blade; the Aeta from Central Luzon, particularly Zambales, have been documented to buy or commission blades from pandays in lowland areas (especially Apalit, Pampanga). Afterwards, they may have dressed up these blades according to their tribe's aesthetic traditions. ...

I believe that this is correct, xas. IIRCC, Fox (1947) noted that the Aeta were an iron-poor culture and frequently re-used iron objects for spear and arrow heads, etc. He noted that they obtained blades from neighboring communities. Several blade profiles, such as the katana and hundang, were made in Pampanga. The article by Fox is in the Archives.