Keris from Patani or Indonesia Copy?
 

I hope keris experts or keris collectors much more experienced than me can give opinion whether this keris that I got for a song is an original antique from Patani or a recent copy from Indonesia. And similar question for the hilt: is it made in Patani (with Patani carving pattern) or from Indonesia.

Ps: A couple of local keris makers that I asked here (in Malaysia) think that it is from Patani)

Original! :)

From the photos alone it all looks right to me.

Hello Nik,

Looks like a genuine pandai seras blade to me, too. There seems to have been quite a bit of erosion, especially visible at the base of the blade. Possibly some minor reshaping attempts at the elephant's mouth; I'm inclined to believe that the quality of the blade was a bit subpar to begin with though.

The tajong hilt also looks genuine to me (certainly not one of the cheap Indo copies but I heard that the carvers are getting better). Sharper close-ups from several angles would help to narrow age down.

Regardless of any possible issues: Unless you're a celebrated vocalist or song writer, you got a bargain here - congrats! :)

Regards,
Kai

Thanks all for a surprisingly unanimous opinion... ps my singing ability is decidedly worse than subpar...

Hope you clean up this blade a little bit. It does appear to have some light surface rust that should be easy to attend to. If i am not mistaken it also shows a very strong chevron about a quart from the tip showing a well quenched blade.
Since you live in Malaysia it should not be too much trouble for you to find someone who can craft a suitable sheath for this keris and an appropriate pendokok should not be difficult to find either. :)

David;

you're absolutely right about the sheath/ maker and pendokok... I'm currently getting the local sheath maker doing it for me right now.

Interestingly (and only just discovered last year since I got interested in the keris again ) that I'm living right at the heart of Malay keris community in Malaysia. The specialist silversmiths, keris forgers and sheath makers are all living within 20km of each other. And many of these people have relatives and connections with the people in Patani.

The sad thing about Patani is that currently there are no more keris makers since the craft was banned by the Thai govt many years back. fortunately there are still people that carry the tradition in carving hilts.