A Bagobo Sangi for comments

[Ferguson]

A Bagobo Sangi I think. Nice condition with a laminated blade and pretty wood. Scabbard is coated with a resin. Any additional observations or information appreciated!
Steve

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v163/sferguson53/Public/sangi-overall.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v163/sferguson53/Public/Sangi-hilt.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v163/sferguson53/Public/sangi-blade.jpg

[Lew]

Steve

That is real nice older example congrats.

[David]

Nice one Steve. I started a through... :(
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=7506

[Battara]

Yes it is a Bagobo utility knife used by both men and women (not just a woman's knife). The hilt is made from a burled piece of the inner part of the narra tree and is thus orange in color. Very nice.....

[Ferguson]

Thank you gentelmen!

David, Your thread made me want one. :D

Steve

[VANDOO]

THE RESIN HELPS SECURE AND PRESERVE THE FIBER BANDS AS WELL AS SERVING AS A SORT OF WATERPROOFING. MAY KEEP THE BUGS AWAY TOO :shrug: A NICE EXAMPLE THAT APPEARS TO HAVE SEEN USE AND THE WOOD GRAIN IN THE HANDLE IS VERY NICE. :)

[Maurice]

Beautifull knife Steve.
I don't have anything to add, only some images of one I have here laying around at the moment....It is from a friend of mine...

Maurice

[migueldiaz]

Nice pics, thanks!

In Fay Cooper-Cole's excellent work, The Wild Tribes of Davao District (http://www.archive.org/details/wildtribesofdava122cole), he mentioned a Mandaya dagger which has a sort of hair trigger assembly:

"Much as the fighting knives are prized, the dagger, bayadau or badau, is in even greater favor. It is worn on the front left-hand part of the body in ready reach of the right hand, and is never removed unless the owner is in the company of trusted relatives. A light thread, easily broken, holds the dagger in its sheath and the slightest disturbance is enough to cause the owner to draw his weapon."

Now I'm wondering whether the badau or bayadau would be something like the daggers pictured above. By the way, in other Philippine dialects, the equivalent word is balaraw, i.e., dagger.

Yet another related topic would be the pics below from the Univ. of Michigan (http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/i/image/image-idx?c=sclphilimg;page=index). The group with the shield are Bagobos. Not sure about the other trio (but they are Lumad also, for sure). In any case, we can see that these knives are more of men's knives (as side arms), rather than women's.