one just like it
I have a sword that is virtually identical to the one in this thread. The ferrule and the oval guard are the same although mine is made of humble brass. The shape of my hilt is the same also except at the base it flairs out so that it fills the cup of the ferrule completely. The prabot on the blade is the same also. The tip on my blade has not been damaged. The double fullers ending in a reinforced tip looks like the tip on some Balinese keris. The scabbard and its attendant metal banding looks the same also except for the fact that mine doesn't have a metal chape. I don't have a digital camera so I can't post pictures but if folks at the forum think they need to see pictures of my blade, I try to borrow a camera from somewhere. I tend to think that the existence of two such similar blades indicates that they are part of an ethnographic type and not a composite made from salvaged blades. This conjecture is strengthened by the presence of the Balinese style tip. I don't ever recall seeing this feature on a Sumatran panjang. Perhaps the similarity in size and shape to a keris panjang is a case of convergent evolution where similarities in customs and fighting styles caused weapons of separate lineages to attain a similar morphology.
Sincerely,
RobT
|