Very beautiful klewang by the bugis of southern Sulawesi Indonesia. Full functional knives like this are the main weapon in Bugis and Mangkasara style. The woodcarving of the typical garuda bugis hilt is very detailed and deep which can only been made by a high qualified craftman. After cleaning I discovered rare text on the blade in arabic " Bismillahirrahmanirrahim "which means in the name of Allah, the Most Gracious and Merciful. Actually there is a continuation, but it's not clear because of the missing letters. On the other side there is Lontara writing, but the writing is not clear due to erosion. The Lontara script (ᨒᨚᨈᨑ) is an ancient Indian-derived abugida writing system from Indonesia, used mainly for Buginese, Makassarese, and Mandar languages in Sulawesi, notable for its distinctive angular shapes and traditional use on palm leaves (lontar). The dimensions are 65x8x4cm. Length of blade 47cm. Beautiful rare item not often seen, true collectors item! • The items will be carefully packaged and shipped within 1 working day with PostNL (including track & trace information) • Tracking will be updated on your Catawiki account once your package has been delivered. Check this regularly to prevent your package from being returned. • If a package is returned, the buyer is responsible for the shipping costs of the 2nd shipment. • Photos are part of the description and remain the property of Booker Trading. • The lot can be picked up by appointment in Zandvoort • If you have any questions about your package, please contact us via Catawiki's messaging service. We always respond quickly • Import duties, taxes and charges are not included in the item price or shipping charges. These charges are the responsibility of the buyer. • We do not mark merchandise values below auction value or mark items as 'gifts'. International government regulations prohibit such behavior. • Please note that the images in our auctions are of the actual product and are NOT stock photos. All our photos are professionally taken in our studio. • We do not ship to Singapore due to customs formalities and weapon license requirements for buyers, we reserve the right to cancel lots to this country. Although this piece shows signs of use, it features fantastically rich incised decoration. Its honey-colored patina, indicating its considerable age, combined with its elegant design, make it an ethnographic object of great interest.