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Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey
I've owned a number of hilts and wrongkos from geraham, and frankly I do not like it.
Some has been fossilised material, some has been from fresh elephant teeth.
It is a swine of a material to work, and I cannot imagine how the old ones I've seen were worked.
I think it is relatively certain that we will not find hilts from geraham that date back too far into the 19th century. I have seen more geraham in hilts and wrongkos during the last ten years than I saw in the previous 40 years.
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I've seen quite a few of these geraham hilts, about half of it, I've seen repairs, nick here and there.. I was told by craftsman the same thing as you've mentioned, a swine of a material to work on (although not specifically that, but along that line). Normally it is carved lightly only to takes up the basic form.. the rest, using the natural structure of geraham, its colour tone, texture of the geraham for decoration.. I do like it, but not on keris.. I rather have it on a hilt stand by itself.. The weight of these heavy material, tend to offset the balance of the ensemble..
When fitted on a keris, and tucked in the waist or waistband, it tends to tip to one side (due to the weight of the hilt).. when held in the hand, the balance tend to be off too, unless it is offset with a heavy keris blade.. imho, not suitable to engage in a fight.. I've seen one being used in a keris fight demo, unfortunately the hilt broke into half.. adding to the list of repaired geraham hilts.. I've see it geraham treated to enhance its colour, although I do not know the process.
Alan, I tend to agree with you that it's a later development.. probably used for ornamental or ritualistic (mystical) purpose, although I'm not prepared to support this opinion..
