Balato Questions
 

Hi;

I'm new here and in fact this is my first post.

I recently bought these two balatos from Medan Indonesia and would appreciate comments about them. From reading several threads and many corresponding comments about balatos in this forum, I'm beginning to be less excited about my purchase now.

I'm a complete novice about balatos, but what won me over these two are the well carved hilts. The balls on the scabbards were obviously made of wood and I'd like to get the forumers comment particularly about the following:-

1) are these balatos meant for tourists? (tourist trap?), ceremonial balatos for dancing , or real balatos used for fighting in the old days?

2) overall they look quite old to me (possibly early 20th C?), are they?

3) can real balatos' balls also be made of wood... or , all wood balls fakes?

4) would love to see pics of good balato balls

Many thanks in advance for comments (sorry for rather poor pics).

WELCOME TO THE FORUM. :D THESE LOOK LIKE GUINUINE SWORDS MADE FOR LOCAL USE TO ME. WHILE SOME EXAMPLES HAVE PIG TUSKS OR CROCODILE OR EVEN TIGER TEETH MAKING UP THE TAILSMANIC BALL MOST DO NOT. THE CARVING IS GOOD THRU-OUT AND THE ARANGEMENT OF THE WOODEN TEETH AND THE FACE ON THE WOODEN PEG UNUSUAL AND VERY NICELY DONE. THE BLADE AND SCABBARD ARE WELL MADE AND IT APPEARS THAT PATINA IS PRESENT ON ALL PARTS OF THE ITEM. THE TIGER BELLS ARE A NICE TOUCH AS WELL. I CAN'T GIVE AN AGE BUT YOUR GUESS IS LIKELY CLOSE. I WOULD BE PROUD TO HAVE TWO SUCH EXAMPLES IN MY COLLECTION. :cool:

Thank you VANDOO for your comment. That makes me feela lot better about my balatos again ! :) . Incidentally today i visited a special exhibition on "the evolution of weapons and world humanity" at the Malaysian National museum in Kuala Lumpur . It has a good selection of edged weapons particularly Krises and one sole balato on display.

Happy to note that the exhibit also had wooden ball as you can see in the pics below. So now I don't feel too bad not having tiger teeth or wild boar tusks on my balatos.