Borneo parang naibur--a mix of old and new

[kai]

Hello Willem,

Thanks for chiming in!

Regardless of the age guesses we can make, it looks like a blade that has faced long extensive use.

I'd guess that this piece remained in Borneo for a longer period; as usual, the blade may be older than the fittings, too.

Also the scabbard looks very used. lot of patina.

Not so sure this is really old patina. Losses to the paint and definitely some genuine wear - it does not look antique to me though.

I think that cleaning the blade will give us a better idea of the quality.
However, personally I am not very much in favour of cleaning such a blade with the main purpose to convince others of the age or quality of the blade

I don't think the cleaning is needed to convince others: The blade does seem to have some quality (e. g. the fuller) while the craftsmanship in shaping it (e. g. the curls at the base) is less convincing and certainly not "old-style"...

AFAIK, Dayak blades were generally kept in polish. Thus, one could argue that heavily patinated blades are non-traditional and just badly maintained!
Thus, I believe that gentle cleaning could help long-term maintenance as well as allow for a explorative fact-finding mission.

It has a history in Borneo, maybe much more fun to own than a jimpul with history in a museum

While the jimpul is a rather late development of the Iban culture, I don't think that there is any notable number of early collected examples in musea which haven't been used in the originating culture.

Regards,
Kai