CAUTION!!! Irianjaya "mandaus" are back
 

This is for new members who might be interested in Indonesian, Borneo or Headhunter spears, shields and swords.....use caution on pieces that you aren't familiar with, more than ever!!!
Every so often swords, spears and shields from Irianjaya appear, always made very distinctive by the bright brown and yellow scalloped pattern painted on the sheaths, sheilds or spear shafts and liberally adorned with teeth, beads and feathers hanging from them in large numbers.
If you like the look and want a known tourist item for your collection, they are definitely attention getters, but some sellers invariably offer them as bona fide artifacts, usually from Borneo, but also from every other jungle country in the world and often at VERY high prices.
While "let the buyer beware" is always sound advice, in the case of these that should be taken quadrupley.
I was hoping I had some old photos of various ones that I've sold at low prices, but alas, they're all gone. ( hint)
Oh...the technology has advanced to the point that now many of the carved bone or horn hilts are actually plastic treated to look like bone, and likewise the "teeth" are also now commonly cast plastic, and even with some of the blades made of aluminum or pot metal, something that may not show in a photo.
One last word of caution....I sold one and was awakened by a telephone call in the middle of the night from the California postal authorities who wanted permission to open the package.....it seems that at least some of the native twine used to tie on the teeth, beads and feathers is hemp, and although it's legal, it still sets off the drug dogs!!!!
Mike

Contemporary mandau -- caveat emptor
 

A couple of years ago, on the old Forum (http://www.vikingsword.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000680.html), we talked about the appearance of increasing numbers of mandau in painted scabbards with hair and teeth ornaments. The blades on these were uniformly poor and the hilts were often bone or wood. We had a firm ID for these swords as coming from Irian Jiya (the Indonesian portion of New Guinea) and made for the tourist trade.

Talking recently with Conogre, we were surprised and concerned to see some of these inferior pieces being touted as antiques, with asking prices in the $200-500 range. I thought I would repost some of the pictures from that earlier discussion, just to alert the unknowing buyer that these are not genuine Dayak articles and that claims for them being "antiques" are exaggerated -- as far as we know, these are of post-WWII manufacture (mostly during the last 20 years). Caveat emptor!!!

These are a pair that I have had for several years.

Thanks for the public service announcement, guys. I've merged your threads for housekeeping purposes.

Thank you Andrew and Ian.
The spears and shields all have the same identical painted pattern and hanging decortions.

Thanks Andrew.

I posted my comments after Mike had put his up, and of course I did not look to see if he had posted something first. :rolleyes:

Thanks for merging our common concerns.

Ian.

Is this the type you mean.....just finished on eBay

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...MEWA:IT&ih=012

I'll add to the PSA! Here are mine, bought when I knew even less than I do now. Luckily my income limits the extent of my monetary misakes (set < $100, whew!). My "mandau" even has some brass dots and some crude designs on the blade, so don't let that fool you...

BLEHHHHHH! :rolleyes: