A Rare Sword Shown in Cato's MORO SWORDS

[xasterix]

Originally Posted by Ian

Hi Xas,

Lovely sword. You seem to be able to find some pretty nice stuff in Manila. I'm attaching a picture that was posted here many years ago and said to be taken in a Spanish Museum (I don't recall which one). The swords shown are pre-1900 (as you woud expect for a Spanish museum) and the one at bottom left has the same blade profile as your example. The hilt is a simple barung kakatua. All the other examples I've seen had the naga style of hilt, like yours.

I have an old "Swords of Moroland" plaque that suggests the name for this sword might be gayang.

Regards,

Ian.


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Thanks for the kind words Ian! I actually sourced this from US eBay- I chanced upon it with a "buy it now" option from an obscure seller. I believe he also sold an unknown blade with an ivory Naga hilt.

I'm not sure if anyone's mentioned this before in the forum, but...one of the reasons why the Moroland plaques aren't dependable have to do with...they weren't made in Moroland at all. They were made mainly in Baguio and Manila, which are a loooong way from Moro territories. Early sellers targeted US personnel. and the plaques became popular bringback items. This is the main reason also why, here in the Philippines, the plaques are kept by Catholic families in Luzon, but curiously, never by Moro families down South. Given the plaque's origins, I won't trust it with the 'gayang' label.

Thanks for digging up that Spanish museum photo- the blade profile matches my sword very closely indeed!