Barung; weapon, tool or tourist piece?

[migueldiaz]

Originally Posted by KuKulzA28

migueldiaz, maybe you can help me answer these... How common are these laminated blades do you think? What prices do they run at? How many are made per how many tourist swords are made?

KuKulzA28, the older ones would be the ones that will have laminated blades. And in two shops I went to last year in Davao City in Mindanao (in a strip retail for Moro crafts called Aldevinco Center), each would have about 15 krisses and only one or two out of the 15 would be older pieces, and they would of course be the ones that will have laminated blades.

That's just anecdotal evidence of course. I'm not really in a position to gauge the relative proportion of the quantities between the old ones vs. the tourist versions, because I haven't surveyed these shops enough.

Originally Posted by Battara

Interesting piece - the blade and scabbard are Maguindanao.......

Thanks for the comment, Battara. If you don't mind my asking as I really don't know, what would be the particular features of the blade and scabbard that make them Maguin.? Thanks in advance