"Have a look at post #3 in this thread:-
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=13989
here we have another donoriko that has been fitted with an incorrect selut, but have a look at how it has been fitted, now compare with the hilt we are discussing."
Alan's remark above on another thread (the hilt-selut combination of Sirek's keris enclosed below, pict. #1) reminded me to bring up this matter that has "disturbed" me for some time.
The first time I saw a Donoriko with this kind of hilt was at a Danish auction house several years ago and I laughed about it and believed it to be a local upgrade by a dealer or an enthusiastic collector. About a year after I saw the same combination at a dealer's shop in Paris and was a bit disturbed about it but thought that maybe two dealers had got the same idea. Some time later I saw it on eBay from a seller in Florida and this time I bought it for myself (see pict. #2).
A couple of years ago one of the Singapore or Malaysian collectors of this forum (Shahrial?) published pictures from a visit to the National Museum in KL with another example (see pict. #3). Thereafter I have seen it a few times in other collections and now on Sirek's keris in Holland too.
So when I read Alan's comment I agree in "taste". But after having seen it so many times and on keris distributed all over the world I find it hard to shrug it of as a dealer's combination.
Anybody else who has the same experience?
Michael