GLIWANG Aceh
Item #W0223
PRICE: Not Available
Overall length: 75 cm / 29.5 inch
Weight: 650 grams
Blade length: 61 cm / 24 inch
Blade thickness: 12 mm (base), 5 mm (middle), 1 mm (near tip)
Blade width: 30 mm (base), 45 mm (middle), 60 mm (widest)
Gliwang from Aceh, around 1870.
Additional info:
It is remarkable that a gliwang never had been worn with a scabbard.
It was always carried in hand and not in the belt. Sometimes the blade had been covered in palmleaf or goatskin.
It was carried by the chiefs staff, and when traveling.
After the pacification of Aceh, it was prohibited to carry these swords, and many gliwangs had been transformed to agricultural tools, while others kept in use for butchering sacrificial animals.
Blade:
Magnificent laminated blade with beautiful decoration at the spine of the blade.
Concave at both sides and with swollen edge and false edge.
Hilt:
Dark horn hilt, worn by use and with usual crack at the back of the hilt.
Drawing from Fisher catalogue of the Leiden collection.
