MANDAU HANDLE

[Bill M]

Originally Posted by carlos

OH!!! WHY DO YOU THINK IS A TOURIST HANDLE? I´M SURE IS BONE.
THANKS
CARLOS

Carlos,

Ben really knows these pieces. Trust his oipinion and judgement. I do.

Most mandau handles were antler.

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email people who have pieces you like
Learn.
Buy from established dealers.

PERSEVERE!!

The Journey is a lot of fun!

[carlos]

YES, YES, I ONLY WANT TO KNOW HOW I COULD TRY BETWEEN TOURIST OR REAL WEAPONS, ALWAYS READ THE FORUM AND THANKS BEN FOR HIS OPINION, TO ME BEN IS MY TEACHER!! THANKS EVERYBODY
CARLOS

Originally Posted by Bill Marsh

Carlos,

Ben really knows these pieces. Trust his oipinion and judgement. I do.

Most mandau handles were antler.

Buy Books
Read Books
Search the Forum
Lurk
email people who have pieces you like
Learn.
Buy from established dealers.

PERSEVERE!!

The Journey is a lot of fun!

[David]

Yes, Ben certainly knows his stuff where Dayak weapons are involved. Hopefully he will be able to supply us with some guidelines for making these determinations.
I don't think these weapons are very well understood in the collector world and a quick look at eBay will show you that the market is currently flooded with touristy mandaus. Many of them are quite obvious. What is a bit harder to dtermine is when we see a later example that may or may not be a practical working piece as opposed to a tourist piece. It is my understanding that heads were known to be taken by the Dayak well into the second half of the 20th century.

[Flavio]

Originally Posted by David

Yes, Ben certainly knows his stuff where Dayak weapons are involved. Hopefully he will be able to supply us with some guidelines for making these determinations.
I don't think these weapons are very well understood in the collector world and a quick look at eBay will show you that the market is currently flooded with touristy mandaus. Many of them are quite obvious. What is a bit harder to dtermine is when we see a later example that may or may not be a practical working piece as opposed to a tourist piece. It is my understanding that heads were known to be taken by the Dayak well into the second half of the 20th century.

What I don't understand is: a mandau is good only when had taken heads? in other words the mandaus were used only to take heads? And more: if one take as comparative examples only the pieces on books and museums maybe we can lost something: in african weapons, that I know just a little more, one can find pieces that are like the ones on books and also other more crude weapons that aren't beautiful enough to stay on a book but for sure old and "ethnographic" as the others.

[David]

Flavio, i did not intend to suggest that a mandau "is good only when (it) had taken heads". I was merely trying to establish an authentic ethnographic usage well into the latter half of the 20th century. Often when we deal with edged weapons from other cultures their authentic usage has stopped or has been serverely diminished by this point in time.

[Maurice]

Hi,

Maybe these pictures about hilts of the book(s) "quer durch Borneo" helps.

Best wishes,
Maurice

[Dajak]

Hi Al I am not alknown about the dajak stuff I also see things I never see before. there is so much old example s that never have been shown that these Items are also not in Books I went to Denmark and see 40 very rare and old pieces in an private collection that I never see .

But Bill Marsh point to get books and even go to some museums is very good.

see Quer durch Borneo and you see good example s

I even had one mandau an very nice example that was pictured in this book
( that went to an very impressive collector that does a lot off study on his weapons)

And I have also an example from an old time collector and weapon dealer that handle you will never see in any book but pictured in his selling catalogue from around 1910 saying in the that is has very old cloth on it.

So this one must be before 1850


I am trying to collect Murut stuf also now but this is more difficult because not much is written about it.

The handle off yours Bill looks like it have been smoke d but it is not.
they try to imitade the coler by smoking the have some black stuff that they use on the handle s.
It looks like this one is From Saribas North borneo I have one similar Iban.


The handle Carlos is from antler maybe but it is not made the way it should be it is an fantasy made handle maybe you understand now if you ever visit
Germany or the Netherlands you welcome her and I explain it to you


Regards

[Flavio]

Originally Posted by David

Flavio, i did not intend to suggest that a mandau "is good only when (it) had taken heads". I was merely trying to establish an authentic ethnographic usage well into the latter half of the 20th century. Often when we deal with edged weapons from other cultures their authentic usage has stopped or has been serverely diminished by this point in time.

Hello David, mine wasn't a post against what you say but only a more general thought on these weapons

[David]

Originally Posted by Flavio

Hello David, mine wasn't a post against what you say but only a more general thought on these weapons

No problem Flavio. I took no offense. I was merely trying to qualify my statement for better understanding.
Ben, i know many others posted hilts, but i would still appreciate your opinion on the one i posted early in the thread. To me it appears to have been carved by an artful hand and has a nice patina. It doesn't apppear to be very old, but my impression have led me to believe it to be pre-WW2. Does the style of carving allow you to determine the region of origin as well. Thanks.