MORO KRIS WITH ODD POMMEL
 

RECENTLY SOLD ON EBAY I WAS CURIOUS BUT NOT ENOUGH TO BID ON IT. :rolleyes: I AM STILL CURIOUS AND PERHAPS A MEMBER GOT IT AND COULD ENLIGHTEN ME. THE POMMEL APPEARS TO BE A FLAKED STONE OR PERHAPS A CHUNK OF METAL, HAS ANYONE SEEN SOMETHING LIKE THIS BEFORE? PERHAPS FOR A TAILSMAN OR TYPE OF ANTING ANTING?

I would need better photos to determine just what that is (metal, stone or wood :shrug: ). I will say that if it went cheaply enough the rest of the ensemble looks reasonably good and may have been worth a bid. :shrug:

Just based on what little tale the pictures show. I would think a badly broken pommel that was carved down to a usable shape.

Could be broken and reshaped, yet the shape reminds a tulip pommel.

Hullo everybody! :)

To me, it looks like the stub of the handle used to insert into a pommel, with the pommel having disappeared some time ago. I have a couple where one can see that the stub had merely been inserted and glued to the now-missing pommel.

Best,

I think what you folks have proposed is a viable theory, especially if you look at the broken wrap at the base of the pommel.

Gustav hit it right on the head. it's the tulip pommel. i would bet that at one point, it has some sort of cap similar to this kris:

I have seen tulip forms before and the kris pommel in question seems very crude and unfinished, as if the final form was an after thought.

Perhaps close ups might answer many questions.

There is another possibility: this had a tulip or conical metal head head that came off and what we see is the base upon which it sat.......

jose, that was the gist of my last post :). in that the kris vandoo posted has a metal cap similar to the kris i posted...

here are more detailed pictures of the cap:

Ah.......I see..... (said the blind man as he picked up his table and saw. :D )

THAT CAP ALSO EXPLAINS THE POORLY CARVED UNFINISHED LOOK OF THE WOOD NO NEED TO DO MUCH TO IT AS THE CAP WOULD COVER ALL. EVIDENTLY THE OWNER WAS NOT EMBARASED BY GOING WITHOUT A CAP AS IT IS HEAVILY PATANATED AND WORN TO WHERE IN MY LARGER PICTURE IT APPEARED TO BE SOMETHING OTHER THAN WOOD. MYSTERY SOLVED
WHICH GROUP MAKES THIS FORM AND WHAT IS THE APPROXIMATE TIME PERIOD IF KNOWN?

From what I can tell from the blade and scabbard, the first example appears to be Maranao. The second seems to be Maguindanao. This would point to a Mindanao characteristic, but the size of examples is small so far, so my analysis comes with a great caveat.