knife Philippines

[Hombre]

This one was bought (not by me) in Manila 35 years ago. I do not know anything about it and should really appreciate any information at all when it comes to this knife. Is it just a tourist thing or....I know the pictures are not good at all but the only ones I have for the moment. Thank you!

[Battara]

Mabuhay!

This is called a gunong by the Moros of the Southern Philippines, most being from Mindanao Island, and therefore being of either the Maguindanao or the Maranao tribes.

In this particular example, this gunong seems to be post 1930s, based on the shape of the ivory pommel and the types of waves in the blade. The silver plating (so it looks to me) indicates easily Mindanao Island, along with the okir vegetation motif.



Congratulations and welcome to our little forum!

[David]

I'd love to see some better and closer images of the hilt. The color looks odd to me for older ivory and i am wondering if it is not clam shell.

[Sajen]

Hello Hombre,

welcome to the forum. The pommel don't look like ivory to my eyes either. How is the feel inside the hand? Like stone? Like David said it could be clam shell.
Here you can see some of my gunongs: http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ghlight=gunong but this isn't the only thread about gunongs, use the search function with the key word "gunong", you will find many informations.

Regards,
Detlef

[kronckew]

blade seems a bit roughly filed & of lesser quality than the rest of the unit. i would have expected a smoother finish and maybe even some incised line art. how thick is the blade?

[David]

Originally Posted by kronckew

blade seems a bit roughly filed & of lesser quality than the rest of the unit. i would have expected a smoother finish and maybe even some incised line art. how thick is the blade?

Agree about the blade and the pointiness of the curves makes me think it is much later than the 1930s.