My Maguindanao Kris

[David]

Originally Posted by milandro

Having said this, I would show some of the pictures of Moro krises (only/ the Ganja for the purpose of this discussion over ganjas and age), which seem to have some age to it and no obvious separation.

I am not saying that my blade is therefore older, I am just showing what I've talked about and which was part of my research on such swords.

The first and last picture look like the the ganjas are made of different metals compared to the rest of the blade BUT the separation (not just a line) is invisible, at least , to me, the other two don't have it or have just a vestigial separation while looking like krises of some age.

Milandro, while you will indeed sometimes find an actual gap of separation on old Indonesian kris, i must say that i have rarely, if ever, seen a Moro kris where there is physical separation of the gangya causing a space between the blade and gangya. I would say that on a well made Moro kris you will not see any space between these parts. This may be because the blade and gangya are held together by the asang-asang or it may be because the size of the parts on these larger blades makes the warping of the steel less prevalent. Or perhaps a bot of both. So showing these older keris and speculating that the lines are merely incised into the steel rather than there being a separate gangya does not really provide any evidence of anything in particular IMO.
That said i would say that at least two of these examples are deftly separate gangya and the other two most probably are.
I agree with other statements made about the somewhat pointy luk and the newer looking fittings on your originally shown kris. This is indeed a nicely made sword and indeed worthy of collection. I hate making full assessments without having the weapon in hand, but if push can to shove i would place your kris as post WWII. No, it isn't new. But remember that 50 years ago is 1973. So i don't doubt that your friend could have had this kris that long and it still be a post WWII item.

[kai]

Hello Milandro,

I'm with David and the others here: All your examples with a high likelihood of having a separate katik/gangya with #3 being the only one leaving room for some doubt.

As mentioned, Moro kris in good shape often have a hardly visible separation line. Those with an engraved line are actually often way too obvious! OTOH, those with separate piece hardly exhibit more than the example in Albert's post (#14) - the line then usually showing uneven corrosion/loss.

Regards,
Kai