Perhaps This is a Variation of a Ceylonese Patisthanaya Pole Arm

[Anandalal N.]

Hi Charles,

Thank you for posting this. It is indeed from Ceylon and I would classify it as a Patisthanaya in spite of the wavy blade. This blade form is rare but can be found. Deraniyagala in his Sinhala Weapons and Armor states as follows:

Some spear-heads possess wavy edges and without impairing their penetrative power, these produce large and more jagged wounds than if they were straight edged.

He illustrates three such spear heads in Plate III.

Why have you said 19th century? I believe it is earlier. If the almost complete lac work is your guide on dating, it could easily have been re-hafted as was done regularly.

I am posting a similar example to yours. As you can see, the wavy blade, the scroll design at the base of the blade is very similar. In my example interestingly there are traces of copper gilding as indicated. The brass overlay is a later work. I assume that at one time most of the spear other than the blade would have been gilded which points to an earlier period. Also note the cock birds in the detailed image. The spontoon type transverse bars are obviously burrowed from European sources. One bar is missing as indicated.

In your example too, in the image Ceylon3 I can see traces of either gilding or overlay work by the edge of the scroll design. Can you see any further evidence of gilding?

Regards.