Hello Willem,
Quote:
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Gold inlays are often combined with this type of hulu/hilt and a wooden scabbard. nothing unusual.
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I believe this must be due to Acehnese adat restrictions: It's easy to spot the status swords but one would assume that gold inlaid blades with gold crowns and elaborately carved hulu pasangan and scabbards with ivory crosspieces did represent the top of the top. Since we never see anything like this, I'd guess that there are different categories of decorations which are incompatible due to social conventions; there may be royal vs. local ruler/judges pieces, ceremonial/kraton vs. nobility fighting pieces, etc. Looks like we need to collect more data to solve this puzzle!
Regards,
Kai