[Spunjer]

my latest acquisition: a maranao kris from the 19th century. what amazes me about this piece is the completeness and the condition that it's in. i guess a definite advantage having been passed on from not too many people.
this particular piece was originally acquired by John J. Snyder, an officer in the US Navy during the Phil-Am war. it stayed with his family all these years, and it appears to be it has been stored properly.
there were some rust which i removed. other than that, that was it. there are some dark spots which i decided to leave.
as far as the kris is concerned:
the scabbard is definitely original with sword. not quite sure what type of material was used, but the crosspiece was darkened with some type of native dye. as i was trying to clean it off with warm water and soap, it looks like it was coming off, so i just left it as it is, and applied renaissance wax. a curious addition that i don't normally see on moro scabbard is a piece of carabao horn to decorate the tip of the scabbard, or per indonesian keris terminology, the buntot. given that the main body of the scabbard is made out of light colored wood, it gives off a very nice visual contrast.
now, the kris:

what can i say; it's a freakin' work of art. starting at the pommel, it's made out of silver. i doubt it's solid: most likely wood, then covered with silver. the handle itself comprised of swaasa rings broken up by thinner rings made out of filigreed silver rings. closest to the pommel is a collar made out of swaasa as well.
a single silver baka-baka decorated with Maranao okir clamps to the blade.

the blade:
one of the finest i've ever owned. whoever made this was one talented panday. i just love the way he made the wide part closest to the handle where one normally sees an incised arrow, out of twistcore bar. twistcore runs almost all the way to the tip. one thing i notice: as oppose to most sulu twistcore, this one doesn't have a naga okir on the tip. must be some tribal preference... the gangya is laminated, and it appears the edge are laminated as well. overall, in a true maranao fashion, this baby is heavy!

attached are close up for your enjoyment!