[Aslan Paladin]

Originally Posted by CCUAL

i picked this up on ebay sometime ago. nothing was changed or altered what so ever, the only thing i did was clean the blade. so this is maranao or maguindanao as well?


see link:
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ight=twistcore

Going by Cato I think your kris blade is of the Sulu style as the lower jaw of mouth cavity of the kembang kacang (borrowing indonesian kris terminology) or elephant's head and trunk design of the gangya is pointing or angled downward and the shape of the mouth of the cavity itself is elliptical.

The sword in the original post has a blade of the Maguindanao style (as stated by Ian) as the lower jaw is perpendicular to the side of the guard rather than angled downward. It is unlikely of the Maranao style as the portion beneath the lower jaw is concave and not protruding forward. Overall I would go out on a limb and say the entire kris itself is Maguindanao made, with the Sulu style hilt explained by the historical contact between the inhabitants of Maguindanao and Sulu via trade.