A mandau with brass hilt for sharing and comment

[kai]

Hello Ian,

I know that the Murat from further north use brass on their hilts, but not seen much on Dayak swords before. That hilt is a very sophisticated casting and impressive work. It seems to be made in several pieces that were brazed together.

Murut is a colonial catch-all term for several Dayak ethnic groups (their area stretching from Sabah to Brunei with bits of Sarawak and Kalimantan thrown in) that's best to be avoided nowadays. Some other Dayak groups also do lost wax brass/bronze casting.

In this case, I'm leaning towards Malay(-influenced) groups from the greater Brunei area. There was heavy production of sword hilts for dukn (also known as Iban pedang or Dusan gayang) as well as other brass/bronze products (gongs, etc.).

Regards,
Kai