Iban Piso Podang (big images)

[asomotif]

Thanks Dinggat , but what makes this particular example Iban ?
Where it was collected ?
The scabbard style or the repousse style ?

What about this sword makes it an Iban example ?

Hello Rick,

Check out the original thread. The link is at the start of this thread.
His mother is living in Sarawak and this is a family heirloom.
That definately makes it Iban.

But in general it is often the fittings on the scabbard that make it Iban.
This type of hilt is indeed seen on batak and Iban podangs , but ofcourse the hilt is not indiginous to neither of them
The blades are most of the times imported, often from Europe.

Further some say that the batak hilt have a cup that is more open , and the
Iban hilts have a cup that is more closed. But IMHO opinion one can not determin them on basis of the cup alone.

All Iban examples that I have seen have brass hilts.
Batak pieces can also have iron hilts or other metal hilts (nickel etc)

[Rick]

My example has an eagle head and no langets .
I wonder ..........

No scabbard but a nice non Euro blade identical to fig.433 pg. 110 in vZ's book .
I have only seen one other example of this hilt and it was broken and repaired .

[asomotif]

My example has an eagle head and no langets

Hmmm... pictures please


Here is another thread with some nice examples :
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ht=iban+podang

asomotif: Your one looks almost exactly like mine! :eek Is it also from Borneo?

I bought it here in the Netherlands from a collector who participated in Van Zonnevelds book, and he sold it as being from Borneo.
And that is also my opinion, and many others I think based on the charateristics I mentioned before.

[Rick]

here it is .

[asomotif]

Wow !

That is weird. Do you have picture of the complete weapon.

Could it be made after Indonesia became a republik and the eagle / Garuda becam a symbol for the whole republik ?

[Rick]

I think if it was a republik sword we would encounter them more often .
No full pic right now but the blade is the same as the example I referenced in vZ .
If you do a forum search for piso podang you might see a full pic of it .

[VVV]

As this sword didn't originate among the Bataks, but in India, and as it is found independently, without any Batak connection, in Peninsular Malaysia as well as Brunei, Sarawak and Sabah I think it's incorrect to label it a Piso Podang (the Portugese influenced Batak term).
As far as I have read from different sources the local Borneo name is Pedang.
The problem nowadays however is that among the tourist shops in Kuching Sumatran keris and swords are imported and sold as souvenirs also in Sarawak.
And I haven't been able to find a "for sure indicator" on the plain hilted, closed cup, versions of this sword to know if it was made in Malaysia, Brunei, Sumatra or Sarawak/Sabah. So I assume the provenance, and some local add-ons like this hair, is all we can make conclusions from?

Michael