[Ian]

Guys:

The silver work of drac2K's kris is 20th C Maranao work from the Lake Lanao region of Mindanao, and almost certainly from the second half of the 20th C. My source for this information is a Filipino antique dealer in Ermita, Manila by the name of Mr. Ven Magbuhos whom some of you may have dealt with. Mr. Ven has been in the antique business there for 40+ years and specializes in Moro artifacts, including kris and other edged weapons. He states that the type of silver engraving (with semicircular marks, sinuous vines, etc., and scalloped edges to the bands) on the kris that started this thread appeared in the 1950s and became more common in the 1970s. Its presence on the hilts of kris and barung greatly increased in the 1990s as Maranao craftsmen ramped up their output to meet the demand of tourists and collectors. He has personally seen hundreds of examples of this kind of silver work on kris, gunong, and barung coming out of the Maranao area in the last 20-30 years. He has seen much that dates from this period but nothing that could be dated reliably before about 1950. He specifically notes that old blades are often "dressed up" with newer, silver ornamented hilts to enhance their value and increase profit.

So if this is a late 19th C or early 20th C blade, then we need to acknowledge that the hilt decorations are a later feature. The underlying hilt may well be original, with just the silver work being added later. Incidentally, the pinning of the silver plates to the hilt with small nails is uncommon, and is again more likely to occur on late 20th C examples.

I don't think this later embellishment detracts from the sword. After all, these are changes made within the culture of origin and in keeping with Maranao styles. The kris remains genuinely Moro.

Just to do a little more research on this style, I went to Artzi Yarom's web site and examined the 95 or so Moro kris that he has sold. I found only one that resembles the subject of this thread (pictures posted below). Again, the silver work on the hilt is pristine although showing a little age. Note the perfectly preserved scalloped edge of the band adjacent to the pommel. This is an area where one would expect to see small distortions or dings to the soft silver with use (certainly it is an area where silver-hilted dha often show incidental damage). There is no damage here even though the adjacent wooden pommel shows some scuffs, cracking and other age-related trauma. This one also seems to have been redressed since it was made.

Lastly, there is one example of a similar hilt in Robert Cato's book, Moro Swords--see p. 60 and Fig. 47 (left example). This appears to be a Maranao kris, but unfortunately the hilt is not shown in close detail.

Ian.