Swords of Jolo, Sulu 2
 

Hello, this is my first posting and I was directed your way by Dan Wilke. We work together on the island of Jolo, right outside of Jolo City. I am very new to this so I am looking to learn as much as possible. The attatched images are of a blade I bought here but we think it is actually from Maguindanao or Maranao. I am trying to figure out the history, age, and workmanship of this blade. Any and all information would be wonderful. As I spend more time here I will try to contribute to this forum.

Hi samhall and welcome to the Forum.

That is a very fine kris that you show, and the blade has cleaned up nicely.

While the blade is broader than many Tausug kris, I think this is actually a kris from the Sulu island chain. For starters, the "elephant trunk" area of the gangya is consistent with a Sulu form. Second, it has two baca baca, which is uncommon on many Mindanao kris that usually have only one. Third, the handle is a Sulu form and it has features suggesting the mid-20th C. And lastly, the scabbard is Sulu in style.

All that said, it could still be a Mindanao blade redressed in the Sulu style. I would go with whatever the locals think it is -- they should know.

Just a couple more comments. The blade appears to be older than the hilt judging from the silver inlay and the amount of loss of that inlay. Even though the hilt was redone in the mid-20th C. I really like the horse hoof pommel and that piece of wood looks like it is older. Perhaps the hilt was partly reworked and left some of the original wood intact.

I like this kris a lot. You got a very nice example IMO.

Ian.

Thank you very much Ian. You have answered some of the questions I had. I am sorry to say but that was not silver inlay in the engraving on the blade. That is metal polish the family that owned the blade used to clean it before I bought it. Dan and I did not know the scabbard was Sulu style because we had not seen one like it here in our searches all over the island. Also, we did not know that Sulu blades had 2 baca baca's. The fact that it was a straight blade made us think that it was not from here. Thank you for clearing that up.
We have a small collection spread out among the soldiers here and I hope I can get some of them to post theirs. Mostly they were looking for a family heirloom to pass down to their children.
The problem with asking the locals is that we have yet to find a good contact who knows more than Dan does. I feel like they have lost an important part of their history and I will continue to try to find out as much as I can.
Thank you again

Sam

Samhall,

Some Sulu blades did have one baka-baka clamp on them. And not all engravings had silver, brass, or gold inlay in them, but were left as is. Nice blade and I agree with Ian, older.