Indonesian Riddle - Who knows what this is?

[erikscollectables]

What do you think the use would have been with this amount of talismanic script? Ceremonial only or also fighting? (the point was chipped off but not recently)

I also go for rehilted but long (maybe more than 100 years) ago or so as the current hilt also has a lot of age.

Erik

Originally Posted by fearn

Looking at it some more, I'm not so sure that the writings were done at two different times. Basically, the design layout is too unified, and I don't see evidence that one artist scraped off the design of another in order to make room for his design, which the artist would need to, given that the Hindu and Muslim motifs are mixed..

What I'd suggest is that the blade might in fact be talismanic in some way. Since magical objects often blend faiths (at least in Europe), I think the combination of Muslim and Hindu religious symbology may have been deliberate. The individual motifs may have even been done by different artists, but there was a single design overall, and the blade decorations were put together all at once.

Perhaps it has been rehilted, too?

Best,

F