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#1 |
Member
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: The Netherlands
Posts: 1,209
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I think your golok isn't a golok.
Hard to tell what it is. The hulu or grip is a replacement and not original to the blade. I have a feeling the piece is Sumatran. Could be a pedang, a short sword or a badek. That's my first and careful guess. Certainly not tourist work. It is a well made blade. It might even be a pamor blade. |
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#2 |
Member
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Sweden
Posts: 1,637
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On the golok I agree with Henk that the handle probably is a replacement (based on its fit to the blade).
This makara variation is usually found on golok from West Java and sometimes also swords that has been collected around Palembang, Sumatra (which is nearby and where other kinds of W Java blades also has been found). What's unusual is that your handle is made from wood and not horn as usual. The scabbard is probably white brass. And the metal of the blade I couldn't figure out when I inspected it at the same auction house as you got it from. ![]() Michael |
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#3 |
Member
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Stockholm
Posts: 182
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Looks like there might be good reason to get to work cleaning up the blade of the small one then. I also cleaned up the Bhutanese sword a bit and did a trial etch with vinegar on part of it, both to see what might be there, and to see what the vinegar might do to it. Looks like three separate regions in the end, became a bit more subtle in the photographs though. In the more heavily-etched parts (to the left), it begins with one region by the edge going from pale yellow, via reddish hues, to purple almost reddish one towards the edge, then a blueish band, and finally a more yellow part until the spine, covering almost half the width of the blade (edge is upwards in the photos). All in all it looks almost heat blued, and while hat helps make it visible in the pics, I guess I'll be aiming for something a bit less colourful in the end (just a lighter etching, or should I go look for some iron chloride?) The spine section also shows a multitude of fine lines or "cracks" in the lengthwise direction of the blade, making me think of folded steel.
Last edited by kisak; 10th July 2008 at 07:33 PM. |
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