More Philippine craziness
 

Oh dear. What's happening with Philippine pieces these days. More than $250 apiece for these two? :rolleyes: :eek:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=6624673805

Ian.

Irrational exuberance?

Anyways, what's up with that Hawaiian dorsal fin sword? Is it a tourist thing? Or the real deal?

maybe the buyer saw something i missed?? :confused:

In all fairness, gentlemen, the price paid for these swords isn't that ridiculous. Consider that there is a finite number of these swords and that more collectors now are collecting Filipino weapons, it's natural for the value of these swords to increase. The binangon alone would have gotten at least $250.

....and yes, Spunger, you did miss something ;)

Zel , do you think these are pre WW2 .
The decorative metal on the Binangon doesn't look like aluminum ; more like tin ; it's a really nice example and looks 100% complete . The Barung on the other hand has seen better days . :(


Just looking at those screw eyes inserted into the scabbards makes me shudder . :eek:

Yes Rick, I would say tin, and the crossguard is copper with bone. More people collecting PI than ever?....hmmm.......... :confused:

On the one hand this raises the value of what I have. :D

On the other hand, it makes it more difficult to get other PI stuff. :(

More with the hmmm......... :confused:

Funny , it seemed (to me) that interest in acquiring P.I. stuff had slacked off for awhile .

Yet more......
 

I was surprised at how high these went. The second one, decorated with punched brass is better than average and one of the bidders is a respected dealer, but I wouldn't have guessed......

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...MEWA%3AIT&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...MEWA%3AIT&rd=1

The second one, the Kalinga head axe (which I believe is a datu class) is not surprising since these are less common.

Try this on for pricing: :eek:

http://www.tribalmania.com/KALINGAHEADAXE.htm

Got the swords yesterday :)
The barung looked like this!
blade was all rusty and the scabbard was painted in black.

After a few sanding and polishing :)
The barung has a beveled blade :D

Panday, I'd be curious to know if your tenegre has silver or tin parts. IF silver, I'm envious.

Not too sure Battara, but it buff to shine pretty quickly, not like the aluminum scabbard that I had on my WW2 Kris, is there a way to check?

Maybe aluminum
 

Battara and Panday:

I'm thinking the sanduko bolo is decorated with aluminum sheet. There were quite a few knives coming out of the Visayas post-WWII with aluminum hilts -- I'm thinking of the knives from Cebu that usually have a date in the late 1940s and cast alumnum hilts with incised decorations. Aluminum polishes to a mirror finish very quickly on these hilts.

Looking at the metal on the hilt of this bolo, it seems that the applied metal sheet is rather thick -- it should be quite heavy if this is silver, if relatively light then aluminum.

Ian

Very true Ian. Panday, I do know that a jeweler would be able to test if it is silver or not. Ian, good point about the aluminum during WWII when shot down aluminum planes were plentiful. That is why I ask the question about the metal composition.