my guess is that it is an old Visayan piece. the only time I have read about monkey skulls, is from the mountain people of Luzon. the skull would only be carried while it was needed, to get rid of a bad spirit. if the shaman did his job right that wouldn't be a long time. I would guess from what I have read the skull would be a burden of sorts & someone would be anxious to return it back to the shaman. old sword, add a skull for effect & sell to a GI, around WWII? tried to match it up to some of my Visayan pieces, very simular, but I suspect it is older than my examples. looking foward to reading about it in Zel's book
|