federico,
actually, that's a very interesting question. prior to going back to the islands, i brought pictures of sandata (visayan and moro) i was planning to acquire, hoping it would be easier to describe that way. pictures included close up pics of the hilts. the odd thing is, no one in iloilo province recognized the diety hilts, and i even travelled three hours inland, rural areas as well. if it wasn't for the last day museum visit, i would've given up hope on these weapons. i asked the museum curator about these specific type of sundang and she said that these are indeginous weapons to these tribe. panay island include the capiz and antique province as well, maybe it's more common in those areas. there are couple of antique stores, and none recognized those sundangs.
conogre,
the spears have metal spikes on them. and yes, they are @%#^$%& sweet! i half jokingly asked the curator if they were willing to sell me some of their pieces, lol. i was actually allowed to touched it, but wasn't allowed to pull it out...
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