Blades from Sarawak, Malaysia

[Dinggat]

Thank you all very much. So trade distributed the Piso Podangs to Borneo into the hands of the Iban (and I suppose other ethnic groups as well). I hope I wont forget to take the photos next time I'm home.

[asomotif]

you should buy yourself the book "iban art" from Heppell

Here is the front cover of this book with a nice podang in a faily recent picture.

[VVV]

Nice sword collection A.M.

Next to your (probably not Borneo made but in this case) Batak Podang is a rare Malay sword called Chenangkas.
And next to it a Parang Negara from the South.
Could you please upload some more pictures of the Chenangkas?

If there is a face on the nice Kutei/Modang mandau far right maybe you could upload it on the face thread?

Michael

[Amuk Murugul]

Originally Posted by VVV

Nice sword collection A.M.

Next to your (probably not Borneo made but in this case) Batak Podang is a rare Malay sword called Chenangkas.
And next to it a Parang Negara from the South.
Could you please upload some more pictures of the Chenangkas?

If there is a face on the nice Kutei/Modang mandau far right maybe you could upload it on the face thread?

Michael

Hullo Michael,

Here are the pix, as requested. Sorry about the delay.

BTW, no face that I can see on the mandau.

Best,

[VVV]

Thanks for sharing.
This is one of the most interesting swords I have seen so far this year (and I see a lot of Malay and Indonesian swords when I travel!).
I could just speculate that the hilt could be from NW Borneo and the blade imported. One of a kind!
If you ever get tired of it please let me know....

Michael

[Dinggat]

I made some photos of the other parang blades. Maybe some of you are interested (question "real deal vs. tourist art"):

[Dinggat]

[Dinggat]

Originally Posted by asomotif

Here is the front cover of this book with a nice podang in a faily recent picture.

Is it the normal mode of decoration to put the hairy tufts into the hollow pommel? All other Piso Podang I've seen so far had no such stuff in that pommel.

I'll try to get my hands on a copy of that book.

[VVV]

Dinggat,

On the Borneo Pedang you see hair tufts quite often.
On the resembling Sumatran/Batak Piso Podang or the Malay Peninsular Pedang Shamshir it's not usual.
Please note that most Pedang found in Borneo probably were made locally, like in the sword factories in Brunei as described in Evans.
I doubt the old ones were imported from the Bataks.
If imported I find it more probable they came from Malaysia or India, according to Gardner.

Michael

[Dinggat]

Thanks for all those enlightening informations

Is it known why exactly did the Batak choose to create hollow pommels if they did not put anything in there? Within that hollow space there's a small "sting" at my PP, I guess that's always the case.

I hope all my questions are not too annoying. In the end I'm just playing parasite on all the knowledge that you probably gained by years-long research.

[VANDOO]

THIS MAY BE JUST A STORY OR THE TRUTH SO UNTIL IT CAN BE PROVEN I TELL IT JUST AS A STORY.
I WAS TOLD THE HOLLOW POMMEL REPRESENTS THE CUP MOHAMMED DRANK FROM EITHER BEFORE OR AFTER A BIG BATTLE. PERHAPS SOMEONE CAN FIND OUT IF THERE IS ANY FACTUAL BASE FOR THE STORY.

[Dinggat]

True or not, at least it is an interesting theory.