Bangkaya, I am most sorry for not responding to your post earlier but for some reason what you wrote in response to my questions on this bolo DID NOT appear until this morning???
Why this happened I do not know. Would you by chance have any pictures of Waray swords that you could post for comparison as I do not believe that I have ever seen one identified as such. Thank you very much for sharing your knowledge on this subject and I am looking forward to any other information that you might be able to offer.
Wouter, This is from Wikipedia "The
Waray are an ethno-liguistic group of people geographically inhabiting in the islands of Samar, Leyte and Biliran - commonly referred to as the
Eastern Visayas region of the
Philippines. The Waray, speak their native language called
Waray-Waray. Waray people inhabit in the whole island of Samar and they are called Samareños while in the island of Leyte they are called Leyteños. In Leyte island, Waray people occupy only in the northern part of the island as it is divided by a mountain range in the middle of the island. Hence, the language division between the Waray-Waray speaking people in the northern part and the Cebuano speaking people in the southern part. In the island of Biliran, Waray-Waray speaking people lives on the eastern part of the island facing the island of Samar. They are commonly referred in Waray-Waray term as Biliranon. In the island of Ticao which belongs to the province of
Masbate in the
Bicol region, Waray-Waray speaking people lives in most parts of the island. They are commonly referred to as Ticaonon. However, the Ticaonon have their affinity with the Bicolano speaking people of Masbate island as it is their home province. Bicol and Waray-Waray languages have a lot of similarities in vocabularies as compared to Cebuano language." and if Bangkaya is correct in that it is of Waray origin it also confirms your suggestion that it is from the Bicol region. Though I cannot find any information on the 'Malolos' pirates I have found some on the Iranun pirates who seemed to enjoy raiding the coastal towns of Southern Luzon. I've always wanted a pirate sword.
Detlef, I have looked under the skull and binding as you have suggested and found that the patina is smooth with no change in color from the rest of the scabbard where the skull is attached. I too have always liked the skull but if it is not something that would be normally seen on this style of bolo and is as Bangkaya has suggested from a completely different Filipino ethnic group I agree that it should be removed and be displayed separately.
Thank you all again for your help with this item and I look forward to any and all information that can be added to what has already been posted.
Regards,
Robert