Borneo parang naibur--a mix of old and new

[Maurice]

Originally Posted by Ian

First, I think the scabbard itself is old, possibly 19th C. I am wondering whether the generalization about thin versus thick rattan for hilts may also apply here to the scabbard as well.

IMO I'm not sure if the scabbard is from the 19th century, and the "thin versus thick rattan" has nothing to do with the age of the scabbard. :-)
I've seen very old collected Borneo swords with huge, thick, rattan bands around the scabbard! The scabbard could be older indeed, looking at the patina here and there (between the rattan knots), but probably the paint is more recent. The carving on the scabbard though has no patina at all. I would not be surprised if it is even a more recent scabbard.

Originally Posted by Ian

The hilt is also likely to be a recent feature.

I agree with this one. The patina is not right, and it looks like it is artificially aged. The cravings don't look that smoothly done also, and rather crude.

Originally Posted by Ian

The blade appears old, and I would date it with the scabbard as possibly 19th C. It has a dark patina with areas of stable old rust that are almost black (Figure B). The blade is well forged and straight, with a thickness of 7.5 mm just in front of the hilt and tapering smoothly to 3.0 mm where the spine turns down towards the cutting edge and the blade has a maximum width of 4.5 cm. A fuller is present on each side just below the spine of the blade—the fullers are well cut, of even width, and run parallel to the curved spine. This is a good quality blade made by a skilled craftsman.

Sorry, but also here I must say the blade is probably not as old as you think. Normally these kind of blades (as far as I can remember though) are at least 1 cm thick at the spine. Also the fuller looks different, as the old style fullers. This blade is not a good quality blade IMO, and very poor. You can have a look at the holes in the blade and the krowit, which shows no signs of craftsmanship to me.
And if the blade does appear to be an old one, it is poorly crafted.


These kind of parangs show up now and than in Malaysian collections nowadays. Nothing wrong with it, but not the antique parangs I would like to collect.