The Balato is the traditional sword of the people residing in the Nias island, South West of Sumatra. These are considered quite scarce. The sword offered here for sale is an early to mid 20 C. sword with a 18 inches long blade forged from an old rasp, with a straight spine and up rounding edge tip. Wood handle shaped like a parrot head with a brass collar. The scabbard is wood bound with braided rattan bands. Total length (in scabbard) 25 inches. Very good condition . blackened areas on the blade but no pitting. For similar swords, see A Zonneveld, Traditional Weapons of the Indonesian Archipelago page 29, fig 37.