My second gunong...
 

Hot on the heels of my first, comes my second Gunong! (Robert: it seems you were right, I DO have the bug!)

From my reading in this forum, would I be right in imagining early (20's-30's) 20th Century origin? It has seen better days, particularly the blade which has been quite mistreated. But it was the hilt that caught my eye...

I only have the seller's images for now.

I welcome all comments and suggestions.

Cheers, Russel

Hello Russel,

a much later example as your first one. How long is it? Do you know already from which material the pommel is? Ivory, bone or tridacna?

Regards,
Detlef

Hi Detlef, the seller doesn't know what the handle material is. I doubt it is bone. I suspect it is Tridacna.

Of course it could be ivory, the images aren't quite clear enough for me to tell.

Hello Russel, I'm thinking that the hilt material on your new gunong looks more likely to be tridacna than ivory or bone. Now this is based only on the photos you have posted and because of their quality I could very easily be wrong. In the second photo where the hilt meets the ferrule there is a gap and the color of the material that can be seen there looks too white to me to be ivory. Also the overall soft look to the material remind me of oxidized shell more than it does of old dry ivory. I would say that this piece dates to the first quarter of the 20th century. My congratulation to you on this very nice new addition to your growing collection of gunongs. :D I'll be very interested to see new photos of it after it arrives and you have had a chance to clean it up a bit just to see if the metal on the scabbard and ferrule are silver of not.

Best,
Robert

Ivory!
 

My second gunong arrived safely. While I had my fingers crossed that the hilt would be Tridacna , I am nonetheless pleased that it is ivory. The attached image (in morning sunlight) clearly shows Schreger lines.

I am very pleased with my new addition. More photos to follow when better light permits.

Yup. That's elephant ivory........

More photos as promised. I am curious what others think the central metal band on the scabbard may be made from. It certainly isn't silver. Nickel?

Wonderful, now that you have it in hand and there are clear photos I agree totally with Jose that it is indeed elephant ivory. As for the center section of the scabbard, could you show a photo of the seam, is it a hard metal or a very soft one? Could it possibly be made of a tin alloy like pewter?

Best,
Robert

Hello Russel,
very nice gunong! Congats! Agree, clearly elephant ivory.
The middle section of the scabbard could be some sort of german silver.

Regards,
Detlef

Could very well be German silver, which is an alloy of nickel and copper. Doesn't oxidize like silver.

Attached are images of the scabbard showing seams. The central portion doesn't seem to be soldered or brazed, looks more like resin holding it in place. It is quite a hard metal, thin and tinny (almost feels like aluminium). It does have a small amount of greenish corrosion: could this suggest that German Silver?

Yup - looks like German silver to me. Only way to know for sure is to have it tested by a jeweler.

Hello Russel,

I am sure that you have given the gunong some maintenance in the meanwhile. Please can you post some pictures of the piece in the state it is now?

Regards,
Detlef

Very nice!
 

I had my eye on that one too, but I held off on the suspicion that it might be ivory. With a few exceptions for well-documented antiques, it is illegal to own, purchase or transfer elephant ivory in the US. I didn't want to take the chance of this one getting intercepted at the border. Glad you have it safely tucked away!

Best Regards,

Dave A.