1. Chinese motifs on the barrels of some lantakas, or swivel-cannons.

2. Chinese-made blades on some older and nicer-quality barongs; recognizeable by the characters stamped or chiselled into the steel. Some scholars think they were made for and sold to the Moros by itinerant Chinese smiths. Others think they were exported by resident Chinese communities elsewhere in Asia. Note that the barong blade shape is reflected in some types of butcher knives, and folding-knife blades, from south China.

Thanks for the reply! The blade seems to be very high quality. I'll try to get some better scans of it done in the next day or so. Another thing that is strange about it is that it seems to exhibit a temper line similar to that of a Japanese sword. It's not clearly visible if you look straight on at the blade, but if you look along its length with light reflecting off of the blade, you can clearly see a different area running along the edge on both faces of the blade. Also, that same area shows less evidence of, and a different sort of, rust. I have a Moro keris, but this is my first kampilan, though I have seen several and also have Cato's book. Is anyone familiar with temper lines on Moro swords?

Chain mail is mentioned in Cato's book as being a variant of the handguards you'll often see. This chain mail is composed of simple butted links and doesn't appear to be be iron, rather copper or some other softer metal.

This is a weird sword. It's got a peso affixed to the hilt, as is typical. The problem is, I can't find a date on the damned coin. Anyone know where I might find a listing of imperial Spanish coins online with images? It would at least help to establish a "not earlier than" date. My gut feeling for a guess is late 19th century.

Thanks again,

I certainly may be mistaken about what the markedly different line along the edge means, but my suspicion is that it is a temper line rather than an exposed, more homogenous layer. It doesn't really show up that well to the unassisted eye, but I scanned it and it came across very clearly. You can see it at:
www.monumental-i.com/oli/blades

It's in the kampilan folder. I also left the older image of the blade with rust that the dealer sent. It shows that the area along the edge didn't rust, suggesting to me that the steel is qualitatively different as a result of tempering.

Am I to assume that there is nothing particularly remarkable about a Moro blade with this sort of tempering? I had hoped that the temper line might help to explain the dragon motif by building support for the "blade of Chinese manufacture" idea.

Oriental Arms and Philip, thanks for your remarks. I would love to see those photos that Oriental Arms mentioned.

As regards to whether a differential heat/quench is typical or common on Moro blades, I can only say that sometimes you encounter it, sometimes not. As I said in my previous post, this effect is visible in blades from disparate cultures. The better class of "darbs" made today at Aranyik, Thailand, all have it. The smiths who practice in that town are all descendents of Chinese and Laotian immigrants, the original Thai swordmakers having been slaughtered when the Ayudhya capital was destroyed by invading Burmese in the late 1700s. I've seen this kind of heat treat on Burmese dhas, Chinese kitchen knives currently manufactured in Hangzhou, etc. etc. etc.

I'm by no means anything near an expert in numismatics, but it fell to my hands just yesterday a small article regarding the Philipino "peso" on the second half of the 19 cent, so if you would be able to post images of the coin that is in your Kampilan's hilt I maybe would be able to get some kind of chronological info out of it, if you want.

I guess that the coin can't be taken out to see the other face, what would help a lot. For what I can see in the pics you have in your site, the side facing out is the one with the spanish Royal Shield. In the other side it has to be the head of the current Spanish King (Alfonso XII or Alfonso XIII, probably...)I'm not sure I'll be able to help even if I have all the data, so if there is ANY potential damage do NOT take out the coin. Just scan the side facing off and I'll try my best.

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Living and trying to learn

Thanks again for all of the excellent input. I'll be polishing and possibly etching the blade in the next week or so. I just have to gather a little more information on preserving the temper line during polishing and/or restoring it afterwards.

Marc,

I appreciate very much your offer to check on the coin, which, to be honest might not even be a peso. It might be a smaller denomination. I've posted an image of it to:
http://www.MONUMENTAL-I.COM/oli/blades/kampilan/coin.jpg

I am reluctant to remove it from the hilt to get a look at the obverse, simply because even if it does have a date it only establishes a "no earlier than" date, rather than a more specific one.

The best explanation I have heard so far, which I am inclined to accept is that the dragon, which shows European influence in its "gryphon" like talons and "rampant" posture as much as Chinese is likely a neo-classical emergence of an earlier pure Moro motif. Perhaps a blade smith saw a Chinese or European dragon on a tobacco tin or somesuch import and, pleased with the appearance chiseled his own interpretation into the end of the blade, in keeping with earlier forms he had heard of, or which had been hinted at in the tradition. As I mentioned earlier, the placing of the brass plug for the eye and the positioning of the dragon's snout where the spikelet protrudes on the end of the blade strongly suggests, in my opinion, that some sort of pure Moro form of dragon had been represented on the end of the blade and along its length, which later became debased and stylized as the abstract brass plugs and spikelets. Indeed the Dyak blades (from whom the Moros borrowed heavily) often show the same characteristics but with tentacles, in keeping with the composite nature of their mythological beasts. All and all I thinks it's a very interesting piece, whatever it's provenance.

Does anyone know how I might get in touch with Cato?

Once again, thank you all for your kind input.

"Likely after 1800, but also could be after 1900. Under the Spanish monarchy, coins looked very similar for hundreds of years. The coin was machine made, and looks post-1800, but it very well could be post 1900."

Thank you very much for checking on that coin. I am going to try to get away from my work insanity this weekend and do a little bit of restoration. I'll see if I can remove the coin carefully to get a look at the obverse. It's no safe indicator, since it only shows the earliest possible date for the sword's manufacture. Also, if you accept the possiblity that the coins could be a later addition, it won't even establish that much. Nonetheless, I would like to see. I'll let you know, and thanks again!

It might help to see the obverse --that's where the date is, though it can frequently have been obliterated by wear, hehe. Given the endless shenanigans at the Manila mint (and the inability to tell which monarch's reign is involved) your coin could have been minted anytime from 1864 up to 1895.

Sorry this is not much help. The coin may be a modern forgery, or if genuine, may have been affixed to a much younger kampilan.

HTH

It seems that it has been a little confusion here. Two different Mark/Marc. My name is "Marc" .I'm Catalan, and this is the correct spelling of my name. It seems that Mr. Mark Bowditch (We meet again, Mr Bowditch!)it's been faster than me getting info about that coin. Hence the confusion. So, the merit is heirs, not mine. Mr. Bowditch's info concides mainly with mine, too, as does Mr.Horge's.

Let me throw some info in. As it's been stated, this one is a coin of 10 centavos of a Peso. It shows the coat-of-arms of Spain and the legend "Rey constl. de Espaņa" that means "contsitutional king of Spain". Coins with the arms of Spain were mainly issued by the mint of Madrid and sent to Philippines. In 1861 it was created the mint of Manila that issued coins of one, two and four pesos for gold coins and one peso, 20 and 50 centavos for silver coins.

The coins that came from the ex-spanish colonies in America to philippines after 1821-1824 (years of the independence of those colonies) were re- stamped on the anverse with the initials of the current king to give an impression of stability about the trade with the Americas. They didn't want to give the indigenous and criollos ANOTHER good excuse to revolt. We can't know without seeing the anverse.

In conclusion, very probably this one is a piece coined in Madrid and sent to philippines.

About the date. The kings of Spain in the 19th, after the defeat of Napoleon in 1813 were:

Fernando VII
Isabel II
Amadeo I
Alfonso XII
Alfonso XIII

You can add here a good fistful of regents, generals and a Republic. Yeah, troubled times, in Spain, the 1800's. Very troubled, in fact...

Alfonso XIII was the one reigning when the Philippines were lost as a colony for Spain in 1898, but he was a child and Spain was under the regency of his mother Maria Cristina. From then on, no more coins from Spain went to the Philippines, but I don't know if there was some still on circulation, but I doubt it.

I would say that this coin corresponds to the reign of Alfonso XII. Definitely not Isabel II.
So, I would narrow the "not before than" date to 1880. His reign started in 1874, but Mr.horge's information states that this coin series was issued in 1880-1885.

I know this is not going to be of much help, but that's what I found so far. As I said, I'm not a numismatic expert by far.

Just my 10 cents worth...

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Living and trying to learn

Egads! Thank you very much for the information. I'm now seriously tempted to pull the coin off just to find out one way or another. If I can just get a free minute I will (I ended up having to work through the weekend).

Sorry about the confusion with the names. I'll try to look more closely from now on.

Thanks again to everyone for the information on the coin!

It says REY CONSTL DE ESPANA "Constitutional King of Spain"

...Not REINA DE LAS ESPANAS "Queen of Spains" (Mainland Spain etc.)

However, I have to stick to Manila as the source of the coin. The denomination shows
10 Cs. DE Po (10 centimos de Peso) and if I'm not mistaken that's solely Philippine for the period.

[Mainland Spain was for the reign of Alfonso XII using Pesetas and centimos --the reverse on such coins would have the royal coat of arms flanked by the Pillars of Hercules, with the denomination DIEZ CENTIMOS at the base of the coat of arms. The coin would also have been bronze and just under an inch in diameter (1877-1879) for Alfonso XII.]

Of course, if it's a forgery, it could have come from anywhere, hehe.

The Manila mint kept issuing Alfonso's coins into 1895, (but the last date appearing would obviously be 1885-- the year of the king's death) because, hey, we really needed the coins here If the kampilan is genuinely date-able via the coin, then there's a fair chance it saw some form of action against either the Spaniards or (more likely) American troops at the turn of the century, and wound up being carted off as a personal war trophy.

If so, that's a treasure, Oliver.
Take very good care of it!!!