What do you think it is? malay/indonesian/fillipino?

[kronckew]

this one actually arrived at the same time as my burmese dha
(see egyptian curved sword thread) tho from a different source it's now had a clean & and oiling.
not too sure what to call it, is it a parang, bolo, golok? looks fairly recent.

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/gladius/parang1.jpg

9.5" rough forged blade, carved wood grip,steel bolster, wood scabbard,
pinned & glued, carved near mouth & chape both sides with
an integral lug about 1/3 downwith two 1/8" holes drilled
transversly across thru the lug, no evidence of any rattan string or other bands
carving is quite deep, finely done, in a leafy symmetric pattern
consistant on scabbard & grip. grip is secured to short tang by resin

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/gladius/parang3.jpg

stamping on left side of blade near hilt above the cut-out.
appears to be a small horned dot then half moon or badly stamped circle, opening up with a dot under
followed by a broad arrow pointing up, this is then repeated.

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/gladius/parang3x.jpg

negative image, shows the broad-arrow type marks more clearly

[VVV]

Looks like a Golok. Probably Sumatran.

Michael

[nechesh]

I agree, probably Sumatran. The blade markings seem unusual for Indo blades though.

[doecon]

Yep agree probably Sumatra, the inscriptions are probably made in Batak script. But its a bit hard to read, and I think you posted it upside down:0

[kronckew]

Yep agree probably Sumatra, the inscriptions are probably made in Batak script. But its a bit hard to read, and I think you posted it upside down:0

my batak is a bit rusty ;) luckily my golok isn't :D

batak is written vertically bottom to top, so it looks like it should be rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise & could be '?' bi jang bi ja - the first thing does not look like any of the karo, tobi, mandaling or daira batak characters, but may be an artifact or a bad strike. the next appears to be a bad ba with its 'i' diacritical. i of course could be wrong. especially as i don't know the language....

[Tim Simmons]

I have a knife with the same shape scabbard but a different shaped blade and handle. I also post a picture from A Tirris book, Islamic Weapons Maghrib to Moghul page 424. This knife with very much the same handle as mine and yet another blade shape is said to be from the Savu and Timor Sea Islands. How much of this is trade or just the spread of forms I do not know. Just thought I would bring it up.

[kronckew]

hi tim, i like your blade shape better. the scabbards are remarkably similar, luckily mine has a lot of carved decoration, glad yours has the suspension cord so i can see how to restore mine! i've looked thru all the info i could easily find on the characters stamped on mine, it does look like sumatran (batak), but as you say, there was a lot of trade & dispersion of goods.

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/scramaseax/parang4a.jpg

i forgot to include a shot of the golok in it's scabbard, so here it is.
i have also went back & enhanced the other foto's at top for more clarity.