Thanks for posting another example of this rare sword.
I noticed that the scabbard of the Bier Bayu resembles the one of Karsten's (looks more like a regular mandau scabbard than having the profile of the Bayu blade).
Also the hilt looks more like a regular mandau hilt than the variation of Ben's example and the one in Blink (illustration below as a reference).
In the Leiden catalogues two Dayak tribes are referred to; "Kajahan" (Kayan?) for the one with regular mandau antler hilt and "Bejadju" for the one with a wooden hilt. The picture of the one with wooden hilt is unfortunately not that good so I am insecure if it's related to the Blink version?
In Shelford's article the Bayu is classified as a Sea-Dayak sword but I doubt that this is the case?However he describes his example as having a regular mandau hilt.
Do you think that the hilt form variations are tribal or maybe they are age indicators?
Or maybe all Bayu are Kayan and the note in the catalogue is wrong?
Michael
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