Possibly Mr.Frey had in mind the variety and complexity of pamor patterns in Javanese blades, as David has suggested, possibly he also had in mind the variety of forms (dhapur) in Javanese keris, compared to Balinese.
Balinese blades very often have a very refined execution, even though the actual form may be more simple than the Javanese. Still, Balinese blades and Javanese blades are part of the same base culture, not spinoffs from that culture as are , say, the Peninsula and Bugis keris.
Javanese keris developed along more complex lines because of the influence of Islamic metal workers along the north coast, Bali did not receive this influence, thus development in techniques and technology was slower and more limited.
Ariel,in respect of your actual question which concerns comparative numbers of recently produced blades to be found in the market place, Bali did not have a revival of keris culture in the 1970's as did Jawa. Dietrich Drescher attempted to revive interest, but it never really got off the ground. Balinese recent keris production just bounced along servicing the local demand for a long time. In "Keris Bali" a lot of modern makers are listed, but their production seems to be very limited and still seems to be focussed on local production.
In comparison, Javanese production is focussed not only on local traditional needs, but also on the art market, which is probably 99% Indonesian based. Many people in Jawa regard the Javanese keris, ie, the blade, as the highest expression of the Javanese plastic arts
In Jawa most of the modern production is from Madura. There's still a little bit coming out of Central Jawa, but because the Central Javanese makers are much fewer in number, and because they are more orientated towards traditional methods of production, they simply cannot compete with the Boys from Madura on production costs, and thus price.
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