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Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey
G
In fact, in my experience the traditional artisans of Jawa are totally uninterested in the opinions of people outside their own personal circle of acquaintances, and even then what opinions even their own acquaintances may voice, they find to be irrelevant:- "my family has always done it this way, I'll continue to do it this way."
Actually, all the people I know who carve hilts do not own computers, do not understand how to use the internet, and in most cases are only marginally literate. Their language is Javanese, when they use Bahasa Indonesia they are very limited and tend to use it mixed with the local dialect, they most certainly have no understanding of English at all.
There is a cottage industry, in Sumenep mostly, that produces modern copies of old styles, but Blind Freddy can see the difference between these productions and genuinely old hilts.
Intentional fakery at a production level is very, very rare in the World of the Keris, and when it does occur it is almost invariably directed at the local Indonesian market, and for much bigger money than any buyer outside Indonesia would ever be willing to pay.
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I don't believe it is so simple. An example - there were very ugly Indonesian (and of course Malaysian) made Tajong hilts for years. Now the Indonesian carvers have reached very high level in reproducing Tajong hilt. The source of this improvement is the book "Spirit of Wood", with its detailed drawings, and surely genuine examples held in hand, because some things you understand only having the object in the hand.
Another example could be the Indonesian made Malela blades. There is a dealer, who presented a Malela blade on this Forum, and years later another one, by the same maker. The improvement was very big.
I don't really know, if the interest in blades and hilts, such as the ones found in old European collections, is growing. That interest could be marginal, yet I believe it could grow in future. For myself I have almost no interest in modern Keris culture in Indonesia, yet even I have noticed two blades in last five years, which imitate the big beefy old keris. These blades were artificially aged, and one of them appeared in an Indonesian Keris magazine, another one in a European publication, both times as old blades. Judging by details I am nearly sure it could be the same maker.
And I have seen at least one copy of an old Sunggingan from Dresden.
Of course, reproducing an old hilt could be a more delicate matter. I am not so sure about the more recent hilts David presented - for me they have some more "back to the roots" elements then normally seen. Of course here I could be easily wrong.
One of the rules is, when there is demand, there will be a supply.
May be the Indonesian carvers are half illiterate, perhaps they don't use internet, yet their customers, and they should be dealers and bigger style dealers, certainly are and use.