Keris for comments
 

Time ago I bought this keris. The blade looks like Sumatran dapur/type. The bone hilt seems to be Balinese, but I nevere met before similar hilts. Unfortunnaly mendak/selut and scabbards is missing.
Comments are welcome!

Hi Rumpel9,

can you post close-ups from the hilt? The motif don't look Balinese to my eyes. And yes, the blade is like supposed from you Sumatran or Malaysian, I tend to think it's the last one. It seems to be a bahari or panjang blade.

Regards,
Detlef

I would agree with Detlef, the greneng on the blade looks more like a Peninsula form than Sumatran. And the hilt doesn't look at all Balinese to my eyes. How long it just the blade itself

Detlef and David thank you for your replies. Here is pics of the hilt. Total length of the keris 57.5 cm, blade length - 47 cm.

The hazards of speaking too soon. Edited my original post.

Originally I thought this was a Peninsular carita blade, but I'm leaning towards it being a Sumatran anak alang blade instead. The hazards of attempting to form an opinion based on photographs, I guess.

Well, i do realize that there are difference of opinion on specified lengths, but 47cm (18.5 inches) might be deemed by some to be a mite too long for anak alang. Some may choose to see this more as a panjang on the shorter side of its type. :shrug:

Agreed, either an overly long anak alang, or a somewhat short panjang. :)

Still leaning towards it being more Sumatran than Peninsular, although I realize there is considerable crossover of forms between the two regions, which makes it more difficult to specify one over the other.

A well-crafted blade, between the deep, well-defined fullers that run the length of the blade, and the clean detailing at the greneng.

It's more the style of the greneng that puts me in mind of the Peninsula. It sort of stands up straight and bristly. The greneng on the Sumatran panjang tend to be more wavy in my experience.

I tend to agree with David, another difference is the presence of the tikel alis (groove above the gandik) which seems to be present on Sumatran Panjang blades but not Malaysian ones?
Regards