Beauty and The Beast...
 

hi all,
just posting couple krises i acquired this past christmas.

the first one i dubbed the "Beast". i'm not sure of its origin, but i'm guessing it's what cato refer to as "crossover". it has the straight hilt type and a single gangya. nothing really 'spectacular' aside from the fact that the blade on this kris is 28" long and almost 2" wide! it's as long as my kampilan. i'm wondering whether this was a battle kris for if it was, it would've been intimidating...

the second one "Beauty", is maguindanao (i think). the hilt is totally encased in silver with very intricate okir deco. an excellent example of moro worksmanship. the blade also has okir designs; even the elephant trunk has okir designs. the tagub crosspiece looks to be made out of banati.
enjoy!

spunjer,
WOW!!!!
the beauty is definitely that, a beauty.
very nice indeed.....heirloom quality. :):)

Good Christmas score. You must have been good all last year.

It must have been some big tall Moro wielding that gigantic Kris.

thx, shelley :) . yes, she's definitely a work of art. btw, here's the full sword shot...

funny story, that one. i was at work when the package came in. when i got home, it was already wrapped in christmas paper with a card that says "from your loving kids". they've been seeing a few of those long priority boxes lately so they figured it was another sword; either that or their mom put them up to it. nevertheless i wasn't allowed to open it until christmas morning :rolleyes:

yeah, the original owner must've been a giant among his peers. i've read somewhere that moros back then averaged 5'6" - 5'8" in height. to wield this sword with one hand, he must've been a huge and strong fella.

As I think I said in one of my emails to you, Spunjer, that silver hilted one is one of the nicest 20c krises I have seen. I enjoy good silver work and that hilt is wonderful. The fret work in the back is similar to my 20c blade (with an older swassa/silver/ivory hilt - see my avatar :D ). On the scabbard, is there a band missing or is it a black band of something?

What are the dimensions of the Kris.

Two Beauties!!!
 

WOW!!! The "Beauty" is definately a beautiful kris! I've always liked the Mindanao krises with the truncated hilts. That's the second one I've seen that's all silver. Excellent workmanship on that hilt...nice blade, too :D !

I don't know...but I think the "Beast" is quite a beauty itself! It definately has alot of character. That blade probably has quite a story to tell ;) .

kino,
here are the tale of the tape:

Beauty:
total length = 24.25"
handle = 4.25"
blade = 20"

Beast:
total length = 32.5"
handle = 4.5"
blade = 28"

Battara,
that's some heavy compliment coming from our inhouse artist/restorator. thank you. as for the scabbard it's a replacement jute band.

zel,
yes, i'm sure it does. since i'm working midnites this week and i'll be sleeping alone, it'll be under my bed just in case it wants to talk stories. ;)