Thanks!
i might as well make this my gunong thread, lol.
up next is a curious gunong. the handle is ivory, with silver ferrule. scabbard is wood and brass, from the way it looks. didn't want to disturb this one, so i left it as it is.. what's unusual is once i took it off the scabbard, the first thing that came to my mind was, "this ain't no gunong; it's a freakin' butter knife!"
as i was cleaning the blade, something interesting came out of it. first, the lamination pattern which is an unusual pattern for a gunong. and then the silver disc appeared. the disc is more like a plug, since it goes all the way through. my conclusion? the blade was more likely a tip of a sword (most likely a kris) abbreviated to this. pretty neat!
another thing is a piece of info that was taped on the scabbard. it says,"PRESENTED BY THE SULTAN OF DITSAN TO C.M.T., DALAMA, MINDANAO, 1913."
so here's a provenance. if that piece of information is to be believed,what we have here is a dated gunong (1913). not quite the 19th century that was inquired on a previous post, but close.
anyway as far as the provenance: yes, it's possible that it could have been added by anyone, but to pick a particular royal house is interesting (out of 15 or 16 Royal Houses). actually, it's suppose to be the Sultan of Ditsaan (from the principality of Bayabao). as far as who C.M.T. was, well, that's anyone's guess (Certified Massage Therapist?
)...