My Sumba collection and some observations

[Sajen]

And there is also the rare sword from West Sumba, I've seen only very few from this type, here you can see them byself: http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ighlight=sumba

[Sajen]

And here my observations:
1. all my Sumba blades are not laminated and I can't remember to have seen one with laminated blade. But it seems that the West Sumba swords have laminated blades!

2. all my blades and the most others (exception West Sumba swords) have a cut-out at the edged side of the blade near the handle, it seems to be typical.

3. all scabbards from the examples in my collection have a cut-out at the scabbard mouth on the backside of the handle. Also this seems to be a typical sign for a Sumba sword.

And I can add maybe that the bindings at the scabbards are worked/braided in the same manner.

[Sajen]

Here the pictures for my second observation.

[Sajen]

And here the pictures from my third observation.

[Sajen]

I hope that this thread is from some interest for you and I haven't bored you. You can see that you can collect weapons from a small Island only and can put together a very large collection if you want.
Finally the display at my home!

[Athanase]

Hello,
I have only 2 knive and one Kabeala, all are recent (between 1945 and 1990) and all in Bondokodi style. But they are never cut-out on the backside of scabbard mouth.
But I noticed that this area is very frequently broken on the scabbards of badik, mandau, kalasan etc... (at least on those that I own).
The cut-out can be made to limit the risks of breakage in this apparently fragile zone of the sheaths.

[Athanase]

For comparison here are pictures of my
The copper coins on the Kabeala are dated 1945

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by Athanase

....But they are never cut-out on the backside of scabbard mouth.

Maybe a sign for the more recent date of your examples? I think that this cut-out is done to prevent any break you described? The cut-out on my examples is clearly carved and not broken.

Originally Posted by Athanase

The cut-out can be made to limit the risks of breakage in this apparently fragile zone of the sheaths.

I think that the cut-out at the edge is done to prevent a finger cut by using the knife since there is no guard which can prevent a slide of the fingers from the handle.

Nice collection, also when your examples are more recent!

Regards,
Detlef