Maguindanao twistcore Kris.
 

Dear All,

something a bit unusual.

At 59,4 cm quite huge. It has 6 bars at the base of blade, the highest number I have seen on Kris so far, and 4 bars until the tip. The welding is done remarkably well.

Besides that it has two unusual features that distinguish it from the rather uniform group of similar Maguindanao blades - a slightly different fullering at the base (it concerns a feature called Tikel Alis in Javanese Keris terminology);
and the end of the middle panel - it's closed like an gothic arch, quite near to the tip.

The curl at the end of "elephants trunk" is done very finely.

Best Yet!
 

Well, this is spectacular and gorgeous - but you already know that! I'll look forward to the comments of our kris experts.

There are some similarities with a kris I had presented previously that has 2 tracks except at the base where there are 3.

Hello Gustav,

Wow, that's really, really nice! Did you win the lottery recently? ;)


Yes, excellent pamor control with a neat solution at the tip!

Also the shaping and fuller work is top notch. We do need a green with envy emoji! :D :rolleyes:

Size is common for Maguindanao kris; looks like an early 20th century piece to me.

No scabbard surviving?

Regards,
Kai

Truly beautiful example and nicely preserved (or restored?)

Thank you Lee, Kai and PBH.

Until now I have noticed here 3 twistcore Kris with 4 bars running all the way through:

two older style Sulu with dense twists:

www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=23692

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ight=moro+kris

and Dave's Sutton Hoo Kris:

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...twistcore+kris

It's absolutely common for twistcores to have additional bars at the base of blade.

No lottery Kai. Just saw some blades I liked (after a longer time) and luckily was able to acquire them.

No sheath, you can't have it all. Would be difficult for it to be an early 20th cent. piece, as by 1898 it already was in Europe.

No restoration, just cleaned it thoroughly. It had a protective coating and minimal rust in usual places.

An outstanding example of a Mindanao battle kris--the simple hilt indicates it was for use rather than show. A high datu quality piece in my opinion, perhaps for a panglima. The style suggests late 19th C. with excellent preservation.

Congrats Gustav on finding such a high quality piece. Information about its provenance would be very helpful. You may be able to identify a particular owner, which would add greatly to its value.

Ian.

Congrats on one of the finest twistcores I have seen!

I believe it certainly pre-20th century.

The sellers poor photos indicated a twist core blade. But I wasn't aware that it would be such a beauty.

I'm thinking that the hilt had been replaced.

Congrats.

:eek: Beautiful blade! :eek:

congratulations on acquiring this particular kris! i've been trying to talk to the seller into selling it to me but he/she would not ship it overseas.
i'm mesmerized with the paneling on this particular piece. very beautiful!!!

Ian, Charles, Albert, Detlef, Ron - thank you!

Albert - before I had it in my hands I also thought of hilt being a replacement.
Possibly it still is, but the "lamella" of Asang-Asang fits the bend of its head rather well, and the rattan winding (which surely looks like a temporarily solution) seems to be done in Philippines. So at least - if replacement, then an old one.

Does somebody of you have seen such an ending of middle panel on a Kris before?

I should have been a little more concise with my assessment.
I meant to add that the hilt replacement is old, not recent.
The blade is just too nice for a plain unadorned hilt.

I agree with CharlesS that this is pre 20th cent.

Very impressive! I'm curious about the history of this kris. Can you please share its provenance?

Kind regards,

Fernando

Thank you, Fernando.

With some bigger certainty it is possible to say it came to Spain in (or before) 1898.

With some less certainty - the person who brought it is (or could be) Don Enrique Garcia Dacal. He was born in 1838, 1876 - 1878 Lieutenant Colonel of Infantery in Philippines, likely served there already before that. Left Philippines in 1885. Later (already since 1890) he was the last Military Governor of Abra district in Luzon.

nah brah, i have one that has a plain handle that seems to be original with the kris itself.
kinda makes me wonder sometimes if what we think as plain is not so back in the days

Yeah, maybe. Yours hilt is finished compared to Gustav’s.

BTW did you get the panji?

no, never heard back from the guy, lol. would've been sweet!

Hi Kino.

In an earlier comment here I suggested that this was a sword used by a panglima. A panglima was employed by a Sultan as his military chief, perhaps the equivalent of a general in western armies. Elsewhere on this site it has been suggested that twist core blades on a kris were a sign of rank for the panglima. If so, some of these blades would have been for use as a weapon and perhaps some were for "show." Therefore, finding a rather plain hilt on a high quality twist core blade should not be uncommon or surprising if many of these were intended for "field use" rather than "parade swords."

Ian.

Thanks for the information Gustav! There's a view that the length of a Moro kris is an indicator of the time when it was made. At least, your example proves that Moro krises +/- 60 cm long (24 inches) were already being made by the turn of the 20th century.

yes, for Kris from Mindanao it's not unusual already at the time.