Dear Sajen,
The one with Garuda Mungkur, of course. Not the craftmanship, but the originality. To see original old motifs, for me is more important than just seeing good craftmanship..

GANJAWULUNG

Ganja, ion post #28 Sajen posted 2 different hilts. I believe that they both have a Garuda Mungkur.
:)

Meet the Twins!
 

Well i finally had some time to photograph my few examples. Meet the twins. These two guys are so alike i think the same carver may have done them. One is and old Mojo keris in a gayaman sheath. The other an old kebo lajer in a ladrang sheath. :)

This old-timer is well worn with a nice patina and beautiful flashing grain that flashes red at some points and some really nicely carved cut-through spots..

This one is not so old, but has some real nice carving. I am not fully convinced that these floral figurative hilts are really of the same species as these other buta hilts. They seem to have a very different posture. But they are most often counted in with their crouching brothers so here is my example. :)

Finally here's one i recently acquired which doesn't really belong here as it depicts a wayang character, not a rakassa/buta, but i'm going to throw it in just because i like it. :rolleyes: :D
Also i can't help but feel that these older buta forms were somewhat influenced by wayang forms. Some of the older raksasa shown in this thread definitely seem to have some wayang characteristics. :shrug: :)

favorite
 

This is probably my favorite figural hilt.
Might have been cleaned as well but not by me....
Very old - but still very good condition and relatively very large

Hi Erik,

very nice hilt and you can see clearly it's age. A real patina you can't "clean" away.

Here is my favorite hilt of this type, also very old and from small size.

sajen

It is difficult not to get a bit jealous with all these great hilts in other collections than mine...Again great example!
And as I am testing my new camera anyway another favorite!

Hello Erik,

test have been effective! And now I am a little bit jealous, this type in ivory I only have in very small size and not so nice like yours.

sajen

Hmmm, Erik and Sajen,

Jealous with you too. My 'dealer' friend from Yogya said, he had sent such a lot of hilts like this to Europe these recent months. Are you the one to send? (Just kidding..., please)

And these are more pictures of another variant of such 'raksasa', 'buta' or 'wayang hilt' whatever you call them...

GANJAWULUNG

Dear Pak Ganjawulung,

you don't need to be jealous, it seems that you have a never ending collection of this hilt form!

sajen

Very fine twins. Where did you get these two butas from, David?

C'mon Erik, you talk about jealousy and then saw us this ivory beauty. Jealousy is mine my friend! :D

A certain Australian source. :)

Here is my small ivory handle of this type, very old but far away from the quality Erik show us.

sajen

Classic?

Thanks,

J.

Some very old hilts from Northern Java. It seems to me that some of the specimens shown originate from East Java/ Madura and Bali.
Best regards
Jean