Sword ID Help Needed

[feseqa]

I picked up this sword in a small shop in Ontario Canada. I have never seen anything quite like it and was wondering if anyone had a clue as to the origin, etc. Any help would be greatly appreciated. The mark appears to be "IMAR", although the letters are not very clear.

[Ian]

Looks Indonesian. Perhaps Bali. And made fairly recently as a decorative piece.

Ian.

[feseqa]

Thank you. That at least confirms what I was thinking.

[Ki Jayamalelo]

Very probably it comes from the small village Mekarmaju of Westjawa near Bandung.

There has been a Program Pascarsarjana of the Faculty of Art and Design from the Institut Teknologi Bandung in 1999.

This small village producing varius souvenir weapons.

[feseqa]

Are these usually well sharpened? This sword shows signs of repeated sharpening and has a razor edge; and, it is not stainless steel, which I found very interesting. It is also exceptionally well balanced - something I haven't seen often in souvenir items.

[fearn]

Could this be an older, used blade, remounted with a modern hilt and scabbard?

[feseqa]

I hadn't thought of that - it is definitely possible.

[A. G. Maisey]

This is from Bandung, it is recent, and the blade is of the same vintage as the handle and scabbard.