A longer than usual kris for comment
 

Good day all.

I recently purchased my second Moro sword from Mang Venn in Manila (a Barong). As I was there, a particular kris caught my eye and Mang Venn, savvy businessman as he is, lent it to me to "feel" if I wanted to get it too. Honestly, I do. It hit all the right buttons. But one thing that bugs me is identifying whether the kris is from Sulu and whether it's relatively modern or early post-war. The gangya is also confounding to me as the line seems very subtle but I can't confirm if it's actually separate or cosmetic. So help, please! Still new to this compared to you fine folk. But I am very excited as I got to meet a relative who's a politician in Sulu who'll send me a kris once he finds a good one there.

Thanks!

Regards,

Joren

Joren, If I understand you correctly this kris is still for sale. As discussing items currently for sale is against forum rules until I hear from you stating otherwise I am locking this thread from comments. PM me with your reply.

Best,
Robert

Ah I had to discuss this over the weekend so before the day ended I just bought it. Sorry for the breach in the rules.

A pertinent statistic I forgot to post is the length of the piece in question:

32.5 inches overall with a 24.5 inch blade. Longer than I am used to (apart from some tourist kris I see all over the Philippines).

I was told the blade is Maguindanao with recent Sulu fittings. Given the inlays that seems to be the case. The fuller is nicely done. Uniform width throughout. The blade is a bit thinner than I'm used to seeing, but overall it feels very well balanced. The handle does seem a bit tight though. A mother of pearl panel at the very end is broken which I shall endeavor to remedy.

All in all I'm very happy with this purchase. My third non-repro moro weapon. There just might be a few interesting pieces left in Manila.

Hello Joren,

The blade length would not be exceptional for a later Maguindanao kris like turn of the 19th century till early 20th century.

All 3 pieces seem to have received later Sulu fittings during their working life (with the barung blade being probably the oldest of the lot IMHO); the hilt of this kris seems to be a fairly late replacement though - well after WW2 and more like late 20th century (or possibly recent and artificially aged). I'd be tempted to try replacing it with a more traditional hilt style (make sure to keep the ferrule which seems to be genuine and old while the clamps could need a quality upgrade).


Please post a close-up of the base of the blade taken from exactly above (a slight angle as in your pics can distort some features).


For sure; I understand that there are also some serious collectors in your neck of the woods. However, it is certainly way easier to grab some genuine, old Moro pieces in the US (often not "upgraded" or with later repairs/replacements and possibly for better prices, too).

Regards,
Kai

A sad truth for us local collectors. Shipping and customs issues just makes epray way too hard a market to break through (though some pieces tempt, from time to time).

The proposition of replacing the hilt by myself scares me. While I've handled a great number of pieces, I am not well-versed in what features would be found in a hilt reconstruction despite reading so many posts here about those same features. What kind of hilt would you say fits this piece?