The kalinga shield looked fairly authentic to me, while I know for a fact that the Bontoc shield is not......and they did NOT come from the same seller, by the way.
In fact, one member asked me about an opinion during the sale and I told him that it's a reproduction, with the source seller having sent me a photo of about 1/2 dozen that he has and he told me that they were repros when he offered me one......I didn't say conclusively, but the strong wording about "it will get there when it gets there" made me suspect that the seller was pre-selling pieces before ordering them from the Philippines only claiming they were much older than they were.
I also HAVE one exactly like it that I bought about 4-5 years ago for $45 from a dealer in Manilla about the same time I bought that large batch(25 ) of Mindenao pieces, a couple older but most made in the past 30 years or so.
Can you say "ouch!"?
I certainly did and also learned a lesson about how much prices can change in just 4-5 years! LOL! Ouch,ouch,ouch,ouch!
Mike
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