ID Help Needed

[CourseEight]

I'm bringing up this older thread because I recently purchased a lot of swords from Sumba on auction, and one of them was from West Sumba. The seller said that they were gotten from an estate sale, so its possible that, age-wise, they are contemporary to one another. First picures of all three swords. The two Kabeala don't strike me as being that old; one I *think* is made of spring steel, the other blade might be older. Both Kabeala handles are made of horn, polished shiny. Neither sword or handle shows much wear.

The West Sumba sword shows more wear, but sadly is missing all of its fittings. Handle and scabbard are wood, rough in places, possibly where there was metal over it. Handle has punch marks in the wood, so metal was probaly put on the handle and then the design punched into the metal. Also unusual is the silver-colored "inlay" in the blade. It certainly isn't pamor (its my impression that most Sumba blades are not pamored?) but rather just irregular lines put into the blade, almost as if trying (crudely) to look like pamor. There are also fairly deep cracks and fissures at about the 1/3 point, either places where the inlay has fallen out, or some other damage.

Finally some other random references to swords from West Sumba:

From here: "The men of West Sumba still wear the traditional parang sword as a part of everyday ware."

From here: "There are a chain of rituals related to the West Sumba occupations: (1) Ritual to sharpen parang swords (urata patama keto) to ensure that the parang sword or knives function properly while butchering cattle or while in used at the field."

From here: "PREPARATIONS FOR THE PURUNGU TA KADONGA RATU
The Purungu ta Kadonga Ratu takes place every other year from July 10 to July 23 in odd-number years, preceded by preparatory activities: ... 4. Extending of invitations to all the people of each clan, with the display of the ancestral spear, Umbu Koda, and the ancestral sword, Umbu Paku Togu, followed by a sacred dog, as endorsement."

Hope something here is of help to someone! Any additional information would, as always, be greatly appreciated.

--Radleigh

[Robert]

Hi Radleigh,
Congratulations on your purchase!! Thank you for posting these and for the links. I've seen a couple of them but not all. You seem to have better luck in locating information and references on these than I've had. When you get tired of looking at the West Sumba sword you can box it up and send it to me and if you think it might get lonely on the trip you could put one or both of the others in the box with it. Thanks again.


Robert

[kai]

Hello Radleigh,

Congrats, that's a really nice one!

Also unusual is the silver-colored "inlay" in the blade. It certainly isn't pamor (its my impression that most Sumba blades are not pamored?) but rather just irregular lines put into the blade, almost as if trying (crudely) to look like pamor.

Actually, that is pamor. This more roughly forged pamor seems to be more common on the "outer" islands, possibly done by tribal bladesmiths. You need to have a lot of skill and experience to do pattern welding under rural conditions but this ain't kraton quality, of course.

There are also fairly deep cracks and fissures at about the 1/3 point, either places where the inlay has fallen out, or some other damage.

I reckon you don't plan to actually use this sword. Thus, that fatal break won't be of much concern.

Weird that the scabbard tips of those latter 2 pieces have 2 holes each (possibly from nails for display purposes? ). And Robert's piece has an even weirder hole...


BTW, I wouldn't be surprised if all 3 West Sumba blades shown here would date to the 19th century - all look like genuine, old pieces. As always, fittings may be younger than the blades but even those overcleaned ones on Robert's piece looks good to me.

Robert, have you considered giving the blade a light etch?

Regards,
Kai

[Robert]

Hello Kai,
Yes I have thought about doing a light etch on the blade but have been waiting until I could get a camera that would be able to take clear pictures of the results. I have just today bought a new camera that I'm hoping will do a nice job of taking close-ups. What would you suggest to be the best way to etch this piece, vinegar or something else? In the photo below the third dancer from the left I think might have the answer to the wierd hole in the tip of the scabbard on my sword. If it is a scabbard that is showing it looks like there might be a tiger bell attached to it at that point.

[kai]

Hello Robert,

Yes, I'd opt for hot vinegar as a first try (first degrease and clean thoroughly with diluted vinegar or pineapple juice).

Tiger bell or other amulets/etc. might be the answer although that's a mighty big hole for attaching a string or two...

Regards,
Kai

[CourseEight]

Thanks so much for your reply Kai! I had no idea that was a kind of pamor, and I appreciate the information a lot. As for the two holes at the base of the scabbard, one of them goes straight through, perpendicular to the plane of the scabbard, but the lower one is a bit angled, and has parallel grooves coming from it. Given Robert's suggestion about the tiger bell hanging from it, the lower hole does look li a cable was to go through it and then was tracked into the grove, so it wouldn't slip. As for the upper hole, could be another bell, could be for hanging.

Its great to hear that the West Sumba sword is older than I thought it was. I'm curious, not to get off track of the West Sumba swords, but how new do you think the others are?

Thanks a lot again, and I can't wait to see what else Utami comes up with!

--Radleigh