Congrats on a very fine addition to your arsenal. I had a feeling it wouldn't take long for Gavin to tag it as sold on that listing.
With my experience, silver hilted Barungs are less common than their ivory counterpart. I only know of one other and it's in DaveS' collection. It makes me wonder why they're not as plentiful as ivory Kakatua. I don't think it would be more or less difficult than what's found on a kris, for the metal smith in crafting a silver Kakatua on a Barung.
I find it hard to believe that Chinese in-scripted Barung blades were made by Chinese smiths. I question why would a Sulu get a Chinese blade when there are plenty of good Moro smiths to forge their blades. Twist cores would be a testament to their skill. I have a few Barungs with Chinese characters, when translated by a friend, the inscriptions didn't make sense.
Are there other Moro blades other than Barungs with Chinese chop marks?
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