Hello Dave,
Thanks for showing this unusual hilt! IMVHO quite a bit of workmanship and it does look to have some decent age, too. The scabbard looks a bit younger to me - do you have a pic of the backside, please?
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the question i would like to ask, is there possibly a connection between the form of this handle, and the shape of a campilon handle. I realize that this might be a stretch........BUT, given the fact that the camp was also considered a Sea Dyak weapon, might this shape also be carried over to some of the Land Dyak handles.
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I have never seen a reliable attribution of the kampilan being utilised by the Iban: the single reference was most likely based on a lapsus. The Iban are known for inviting Ilanum mercenaries when organizing larger raids. Even if the extent and historical duration of such cooperation remains unknown, it is safe to assume that these 2 cultures had already been in contact for a very long time. Given this, I rather am surprised how little cultural cross-fertilisation seems to have happened - so, my guess would be that there is no direct relationship between kampilan hilts (note that on northern Borneo the less jaw-like hilt types prevail) and neither your mandau hilt nor mandau hilts in general...
Regards,
Kai