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Originally Posted by Sajen
Our member Roland have given back the blade the original grinding shape which was only to feel after someone has cleaned the blade to harsh, now is the typical Visayan beveled edge clearly visible again.
Any guess what we have here? A talibon? Or an other Visayan blade? I am very sure that it is the original handle.
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I'm thinking of four possibilities.
In Eastern Samar, the general classification of this blade would be 'sundang.' In several historical references, the Waray of this area classify sundang as a combat blade, and 'bolo' as a utility blade. There may be a more specific name for this blade type depending on its origin-town; unfortunately even in modern times this puzzle has not been solved yet. It's difficult to hunt for blades in this part of the Visayas since this is a communist rebel-infested area. 'Talibon' or 'talibong' is not a blade name known to the people of this area. Monster head-hilts are also prevalent in this area from a certain era (am guessing that era is pre-ww2).
On the other hand, this blade can also be a talibong from the Panay region (talibong = general term for combat blade). The blade profile fits the 'linamay' shape, and the hilt is in line with monster figurals from this area. However, two things stand out- the hilt angle is not common for a linamay profile, and the scabbard is not used by Panay blades.
To make things more interesting- Cebu also has the same scabbard and blade profile, with corresponding hilt angle. They also call this 'sundang.' The problem is, I'm not sure if there are monster-hilts from that region; from what I've seen, human head figurals were used in antique and vintage samples.
Finally, the radical conjecture would be that someone married a Panay-sourced hilt to an Eastern Samar blade, or a Panay-sourced hilt to a Cebu blade, or an Eastern Samar hilt to a Cebu blade.