Spears from Buru for sharing
 

Dear members,

I want to share with you this three spears/tombaks I bring with from my last trip to Indonesia. This spears are from Buru (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buru), an island near to Ceram. I think that this spears are not to old (see the reinforcing bands from plastic) but they have a very good using patina at the wood. They are 182, 175 and 165 cm long.
All comments are very welcome,

Detlef

I am a little bit surprised that nobody comment. This spears are for sure not antique, yes, but made for use with a nice patina and I am sure of ethnograhic value and not easy to get. BTW, the brother of my wife who living on Halmahera direct think that they from there and told me that the spears from Halmahera look very similar.

Regards,

Detlef

I'm sorry Detlef, that no one commented on these .

Perhaps it is because no one here is familiar with them ... :shrug: :confused:

I would not like to be on the receiving end of any of these barbed examples, let alone the straight one . :eek:

Thank you Rick,

the reason that I post them was that I thought that nobody will be familar with them so I think that they will be for interest. :confused: ;)

I am proud to have them in my collection now, not only because they unknown.
I have carried them with in a cardboardtube from Bali by airplane and than by train!! :D ;) All people looking very strange to me!! :D

Hello Detlef, I am quite happy that you linked to these in my spear thread as I completely missed seeing this thread. I do however have a few questions on these. Can you list dimensions on these including shaft diameters? I only ask this because in the pictures you have here they look like they could very easily be very long arrows instead of spears. Either spears or arrows they are a great addition to you collection.

Best,
Robert

Hello Robert,

these are definitely spears/tombaks. All three were collected from an uncle of my wife. I still keep two, one I have sold to a friend collector. One with the barbed point is 165 cm long, the head is 37,5 cm and the shaft diameter is 1,6 cm. The one with the straight head is 182 cm long, the head is 41 cm and the shaft diameter is 1,7 cm. Tombak from Halmahera look very similar. In the moment I try to get some from Halmahera to Germany.

Regards,

Detlef

Was/is there not a penal colony at Buru ?

Yes, in the 60ties/70ties last Century under President Suharto.

Thank you Detlef for the measurements of your fine spears. For some reason in the first photo they just appeared to my eye to look rather thin and elongated like an arrow. Getting older and having whats left of my vision playing tricks with me really sucks. Again my thanks for sharing the information and photos of these.

Best,
Robert

Those are great!
 

Hi Detlef,

I am really excited to see your spears posted here. In 1997, I traveled to meet the Geba Bopolo people in the Lake Rana area, which is in the interior of Buru.

They had spears just like yours. The two types of spearheads they had are shaped just like those in your photos - one is barbed and the other has a simple leaf shape.

The people there told me that a man never goes into the rainforest without carrying a spear and a parang or todo. They are used for hunting and for defense.

I actually went to meet the Geba Bopolo to learn about their fighting arts and culture. Though I stayed only a short time, they showed me a little of what they do when fighting with the spear and parang combination.

Just now, I am working on an article about my experience. When searching for more information about Buru, your posts appeared in my search.

Anyway, those are great! I sure wish I had thought to bring some back myself.

Leslie

Hi Leslie,

I just found your post! They don't get collected by my person but from an uncle of my wife who coming from Halmahera. I picked them up on Bali and bring them with to Germany, I was happy that they were wrapped since my journey back was by public transport!
Great that you can recognize them as from the Geba Bopolo people! :)

Regards,
Detlef

Hi Leslie:

Welcome to the Forum and thanks for your comments. I hope you will post a copy of your article here when it is finalized.

Ian

Hi Detlef and Ian,

Thank you for the reply and thank you for welcoming me to the forum.

Wow, Detlef, I am glad you did not have any trouble bringing the spears back from Bali!

Would you consider allowing me to use photos of your spears for the article? Your spears are great examples and would be much better than my crude drawings and the old film photos I have from my trip. Perhaps we could discuss it by private message, if that is ok.

Otherwise, I would be happy to post a link to the article here as long as I have permission from the publisher, and it is appropriate on Vikingsword.

I will not be paid for the article, but it will be published in an online magazine that offers both free issues and editions for a charge. Honestly, I am not sure where mine will end up. It's a new magazine.

thank you,
Leslie

Hi Leslie,

they were packed in a tube and otherwise are no issues with German customs when you mean this, you don't will have any problems with ethnograhic weapons in Germany.

And I am sure, that we will find a way, feel free to pm me.
PS: I own also shields from Buru. ;)

Regards,
Detlef

that is indeed the reason .

Buru is part of the Moluccan Islands, whose peoples have a history and culture of their own.
More important the island has always been very seperated due to its very wooded forest nature and geopolitical no one really had much interest in the island at all during the centuries...
Even the Dutch came first in 1915 and it was still very secluded and little developed till late 20th century.
Next to some soldiers a German scientist Prof. Dr. K. Deninger in 1910 visited the island , hardly anybody came there...
So even within the Moluccan community it is not easy to find some one from Buru.
Hence you made a lucky but very good purchase and as for the reinforcing bands from plastic: I have seen during my stay in North Africa often quite inventive use of material when repairing one item or another due to the lack of materials. Good use of material (plastic) in such a poor region.

So your feeling about the patina might well be leading when talking about age... , also with the very nice spearheads with hooks which look old.