Description

An old Mandau from the private collection of notable Borneo expert, Arjan Hollestelle.

He believes it to be from Central Borneo and quite old. Old, in mandau terms, means roughly 1850 or prior. Almost all mandau in collections date from the late 19th to early 20th century.

It features a very thick and rather heavy blade of typical mandau cross-section with hollow-ground left and convex right side. The right side is decorated with with lines of S-shaped engravings and bass and silver inlays. There are two old-style stylized aso-motifs at the, a row of silver inlaid S shapes just below the spine, with below that a row of star shaped brass dots, 55 in total, alternating between brass and silver. The last 21 inlaid dots are also seen on the reverse side which is mostly plain.

The blade's tip shows a number of carefully shaped curling protrusions, 

The unusually finished spine has two grooves with a raised central rib dividing them.

The hilt is carved from a large piece of deer antler, its abstract designs are probably the jaws of various aso (mythical dragon dogs). The grip is wrapped with dark and lighter brown rattan.

No scabbard.