Unknown sword

[nechesh]

I wasn't questioning whether or nor this blade is battle worthy as much as whether a datu who could afford silver inlay and ivory pommels would actually find himself on the battlefield with his men.

[pinoy]

Hi guys, another example of an inlayed kris.

[Rick]

What interests me about the Cato kris is the pommel material ; I wonder if it is truly elephant ivory , or is it made from a particularly large hippo tusk .
IIRC hippo tusks have the series of dark dots seen in picture #2 in the auction .

personally speaking ; I have never seen these dots in elephant ivory .

http://tinyurl.com/ko3lu

Comments ?

[ernesto.e]

Hay caramba!

I never expected that this sword was that complecated!

But its a good learning experience.

[Rick]

Ernesto , believe me ; stick with the Chinese stuff !
These Moro swords are sooo boring ........

[nechesh]

Originally Posted by Rick

Ernesto , believe me ; stick with the Chinese stuff !
These Moro swords are sooo boring ........

Sure, in fact, i could help relieve your burden and easy all the confusion ....just sell that puppy to me and you'll sleep much better.

[BSMStar]

Hey Rick......

Don't forget me! For you, I will beat anyones offer by a dollar.

But don't let nechesh know.

[panday]

Originally Posted by nechesh

Sure, in fact, i could help relieve your burden and easy all the confusion ....just sell that puppy to me and you'll sleep much better.

I second to that, Rick! in case Nechesh here pass that opportunity! You can email me direct any time, and I promise, I'll take care of it really good.

Btw, I'll show it to him once in a while like you do

[panday]

Originally Posted by Rick

What interests me about the Cato kris is the pommel material ; I wonder if it is truly elephant ivory , or is it made from a particularly large hippo tusk .
IIRC hippo tusks have the series of dark dots seen in picture #2 in the auction .

personally speaking ; I have never seen these dots in elephant ivory .

http://tinyurl.com/ko3lu

Comments ?

Sorry Rick, but I have to disagree with you about the hippo ivory thing. I am attaching a series of close up photo shots on the ivory kakatua where those dots are, and to my own observation, appears to me that it is part of a crack that was neutralized by some solvent/glue?, I can still feel the scar from it, and I think those solvents has to do with this dots. It look like it was sanded off and polished, but you can still feel the rough edges. Just my thought.

Couldn't sleep last night due to jetlag from long flight, so I start carving a scabbard for it (from an extra Maguindanoan scabbard of mine) just for protection.

[Rick]

Do you see any kind of a cross hatched pattern in the grain ?

[panday]

Originally Posted by Rick

Do you see any kind of a cross hatched pattern in the grain ?

Rick, it's more like a fish scale grain pattern to me similar to my other ones.

[MABAGANI]

Originally Posted by nechesh

I wasn't questioning whether or nor this blade is battle worthy as much as whether a datu who could afford silver inlay and ivory pommels would actually find himself on the battlefield with his men.

In Moro culture, owning a fine sword or wealth did not exempt datus from fighting with his men or family...leadership also meant warrior prowess

[MABAGANI]

Originally Posted by MABAGANI

In Moro culture, owning a fine sword or wealth did not exempt datus from fighting with his men or family...leadership also meant warrior prowess

Interesting quote from a historical article showing the interrelationship of Brunei and Ternate to the Moro Sultanates, and royal warriorship-

"Rajah Balatamay's story is one of the finest in the glorious years of the
sultanates.

Balatamay, who was from Buayan (Cotabato Upriver Valley) and Maguindanao
(then comprising most of Mindanao), was exiled to Sulu after he killed
Spanish Ambassador Melchor Lopez, a co-signatory of Sultan Kudarat to a
Spain-Maguindanao Treaty ceding parts of Mindanao to Spanish claims on Islas
Pilipinas in 1645.

His close friend Wasit gave Balatamay the highest defense post of the Sulu
sultanate and subsequently sent him to Brunei to lead the combined
reinforcement of Maguindanao and Sulu. He was to help Brunei's Sultan Saiful
Rijal quell a rebellion mounted in his kingdom by Visayan settlers.

It was said that the triumphant defense of the Brunei sultanate prompted
Rijal to reward the sultanate of Sulu with his government's property in
North Borneo, the Sabah territory (which Malaysia, declaring independence
from Britain, annexed in 1961), while the sultanate of Maguindanao was given
a territory in Ternate in what is now Indonesia.

*Blood evidence*

Kudarat's annexation of Ternate having been rewarded his sultanate bears
blood evidence in his descendants among the Diocolano family in Maguindanao,
whose matriarch was the princess of Ternate.

Returning to Sulu after almost two decades in the Brunei war, Balatamay
learned that his father-in-law was determined to enthrone his child by the
Sulu princess even if the child turned out to be a girl.

Balatamay declined to anoint his young daughter to reign over Sulu as
Pangian Ampay Putri Kabira after her grandfather. (Pangian is the feminine
title equivalent to the masculine sultan).

The son-in-law's opposition prompted the Sulu sultan to call for bloodshed
in a gladiators' fight of sorts: should there be none to take the challenge
of the sultan to fight his hardest fighting warrior, then it would become a
one-on-one fight between the father-in-law and the son-in-law—a kind of only
one wish, yours or mine, should prevail.

Datu M'gkap of Buayan took up the cudgel for Balatamay and won over the Sulu
warrior. But still, Balatmay submitted to his father-in-law, who still had
ultimate power to decide over the affairs of Sulu. Some historians say the
ascension to power of Pangian Ampay Putri Kabira remains an unresolved case
to this day in the Sulu sultanate's council, the Ruma Bichara."