Chieftain keris
 

Dear members ,

I would like to share with you my last catch !
Looks like a " chieftain keris " . The patina is fantastic and all parts seems to be original . Probably sumatran but the wilah is a bit confusing for me !
Any comments are more than welcome .
Henri

Nice catch. A beautiful keris indeed but I don't think its a chieftain. Looks more like a "keris selit" or small keris for customary use.

I beautiful keris. This thread might be helpful.
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...hieftain+keris

Thank you Jentayu and David .
Anyway ! No worries if we can t refer to " Chieftain keris " . Still a nice piece for me .
Question is this keris Bugis , Southern Sumatran or more Malay ?
From where I got this one I can be 90% sure all parts are original but sheath is more Bugis influence and blade for me more Sumatran .
Thank you for your comments guys
Henri

Would like to know how long is the blade and the keris complete! :confused:

Sajen , the blade is exactly 260 mm and overall 345 mm

Thank you Henri, by this size it is possible that Jentayu is correct. :)

Regards,

Detlef

Beautiful keris :eek:

Thank you Marco .

So I will file this one as Keris selit / Malaysian origin .

Blade Material
 

I'm interested in the blade material. I've seen it in a lot of Bugis pieces as the iron has a rather silvery colour rather than the greyish tinge or approaching black hue found on other blades manufactured elsewhere in the region.

Is this the result of the blade not being acid stained, or due to some high nickel content in the base material perhaps?

Can someone enlighten me :)

Hello,
This blade was just scrubbed for removing the rust and would look completely different after warangan, see examples of Bugis blades before and after treatment.
Regards

Bonjour Jean ( eh oui ! un peu francais moi ausi ! )
Did you mean this blade is made of alloy nickel iron and iron and
could show a pamor after waranga treatment ?
I haven t tried waranga thinking the peninsular origin of this blade
didn t allow this kind of alloy .
This one for me doesn t look like a bugis .

Henri

Yes, it is a pamor blade. A lot of collectors don't like to etch (warangan) Bugis and Malay blades.

Regards,

Detlef

Yes, this is definitely a pamor blade and i'd say this blade certainly shows Bugis influence. As for staining (warangan), i am still unclear as to whether leaving Bugis and Malay blades unstained is a matter of tradition or simply contemporary collector's tastes. I have seen nothing definitive on the actual tradition. I have seen them treated both ways. My personal inclination is to stain a blade that has a nice pattern to show. Malay blades are less likely to have a pamor, but some Bugis style blades like yours show beautiful pattern and it seems a shame not to allow them to present themselves clearly. :shrug:

Agree complete with you David!! :)

I also fully agree with David. :)
Regards

All right . Will etch and post some photos soon .
Thank you all for your inputs . I am still a bit confused for the origin : Bugis or Keris selit peninsular but I will do some homework to get a reply .
Henri

Henri, the Bugis people were all over the archipelago. Say a keris has Bugis origin is therefore not a statement of origin. The Bugis are in Sulawesi, Sumatra and on the Peninsula.