( how ) Old ? Rencong dagger

[francantolin]

Hello everyone,

I acquired this nice dagger.
Reasonable price,
It's said to be very old, from the early 19th century, but I doubt it unless it's been extremely cleaned. The ferrule seems to be made of suassa.
The scabbard is very well detailed, but appears to be recent to.me.
Îm not sure if the hilt is made of ivory or horn?

The rencong has a good size: 44 centimeters with the scabbard.
Beautiful, solid blade; I think it would look better.etched.

Glad if specialists can help/comment.

Kind regards

[Rafngard]

That's a nice one.
I can't comment on the age, but I'm fairly certain that the hilt is marine ivory.

Have fun,
Leif

[Sajen]

Hello Francantolin,

A very nice rencong with hulu puntung made from hippo ivory. My age guess would be, rough guessed, mid to end of the 19th century. The ferrule seems to be indeed of suassa. The scabbard could be of later date but it's a nice one with traditional carvings, I would give it some oil, the colour will get a little bit darker, it looks very dry. There is also a piece of wood missing from the scabbard. The scabbard isn't recent IMVHO. A very good catch, congrats!

Regards,
Detlef

[David]

Nice one. I agree with Detlef that the hilt is hippo ivory. Late 19th to early 20thC.

[francantolin]

Thank you all for your message
and the good news

Strange the choice of hippo for the hilt,
Do they import it from Africa ?
If I am not wrong, they aren’t hippo in Indonesia and Asia.

I wasn’t sure about the ferrule who has often a crown shape on the rencong I saw.
This one is ́’flat ’́’ so I thought it was more recent ( but the quality is ok )

Kind regards

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by francantolin

Strange the choice of hippo for the hilt,
Do they import it from Africa ?
If I am not wrong, they aren’t hippo in Indonesia and Asia.

Yes, hippo ivory got imported from Africa, it's a very common material in South-East-Asia.

Originally Posted by francantolin

I wasn’t sure about the ferrule who has often a crown shape on the rencong I saw.
This one is ́’flat ’́’ so I thought it was more recent ( but the quality is ok )

These ferrules are quite common on rencongs, see the attached pic of some rencong from my own collection.

Regards,
Detlef

[francantolin]

Thank ́s a lot Detlef !

I just knew the models with crowns or without any deco ferrules ( in blue )

[francantolin]

’

[Sajen]

Your very nice piece is from Aceh. And like I said before, I would give the scabbard some oil.

Regards,
Detlef