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Old 15th April 2013, 09:15 AM   #7
kai
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Join Date: Apr 2005
Posts: 3,218
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Hello Ron,

congrats, I like this dwarf kris a lot!

From the blade and the silver work I'd place this well into the 19th century.

One may wonder wether this may be a very early attempt at circumventing sword bans (which would mean a relatively late date) considering the similarity of the bulbous grip ornament with those seen in gunong/punal. OTOH, some early kris also have this bulbous grip ornament although stylistically this dwarf kris appears to be closer to early gunong. Okir is very limited on this hilt (Ron could you please post a close-up taken from the top of the grip?); it doesn't look Sulu to me and also the scabbard points to Mindanao. I'd guess this is a relatively early type of additional sidearm and believe the history of gunong/punal also goes back for quite a bit longer than usually acknowleged.

Regards,
Kai
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