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Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey
Last year I handled a lot of very old blades in European museums. None had any evidence of ever having been stained, the surfaces were smooth and polished, where a blade did have a pamor you needed to get it under angled light to see it.
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Alan,
there are at least three old kerisses with preserved old staining, the first one in Dresden (Inv.N. 2895, I am sure you have it in your notices), the second one in Vienna, this one beeing mentioned in 1607. It has a Bali-like finish and deep blue-black staining. Also the keris of Peter the Great in Eremitage (St. Petersburg), which he bought in early 1716 (a twin of Inv.N. 2880 in Dresden, bought 1714), has an intact black staining.