I would say for a very long time most people(general public) just assumed a Philippine sword was either a Moro Barong, Kris, or Kampilan. With a few Luzon regular Bolos thrown in. I believe that is now changing with the sharing of knowledge and the internet; which helps others connect, research, and document(and is all made public). And with that comes easy access of information to these weapons that most never even knew about. These Visayan weapons are an entirely whole new world. It is about time these swords get recognized for their craftsmanship as well as historical value. Realistically, anyone can go out and find a quality Barong, Kris, or Kampilan very easily. And if money is no object, you can pick and choice. I believe people are now realizing certain Visayan pieces, like the Talibong/Garab, are more rare and exclusive then the Moros weapons(even if they aren't made of higher quality materials). And this quality Talibong that sold on eBay is one of the higher end weapons to come out of the Visayan area even with the damage. You almost can not pick and choose when it comes to the Visayan area of weapons; just wait for them to appear and fight everyone else off who now wants one. The increased demand is now significantly out weighting the limited supply for Visayan weapons. There is far less supply of Visayan weapons compared to Moro weapons...and the demand is not dropping but growing. Everyone is just now realizing that. Well... thats just my take on it.
12th March 2012, 04:31 AM
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