[CharlesS]

This badek was an Ebay purchase from a large collection of SE Asian edged weapons. You can see the immediate attraction...the unusual blade!

The hilt is carved horn and quite plain, as is the hardwood scabbard.

The the blade, though, is heavy, thick pamor steel, but smooth like a Balinese keris, and is chiseled with a panel of interlocking swastikas covered in silver on both sides. There is a floral pattern at the forte like you might expect to see on a kard, karud, or pesh kabz dagger, and the spine is inlaid with a silver floral motif. You can see the the top of the fuller(side of the spine on the side) was once inlaid in silver as well, with most of it now lost.

You can see other losses to the silver work as well.

The patina to the hilt and scabbard, paired with the loss of some of the original silver seem to indicate some good age on this piece; I would suggest at least 100 years or more.

An awful lot of work went into chiseling the side panels of this dagger and I am wondering if anyone is familiar with the swastika reference in Indonesian religion. I have to think it is linked to Hinduism, where it is associated with good fortune and the universal nature(four faces of Brahman).

I am anxious for any input that may apply these motifs more directly to Indonesia.

Comments welcomed.

Dimensions:

Overall length: 17.25in.
Blade length: 12.33in.
Widest point of the blade: 1.75in.