Naga keris - original?
Hello gentlemen,
I am a new member to this forum altough I have followed your discussions with a strong interest for several years. I decided to join especially because I was the previous owner of this kris before it fled to the NL... For those of you who have my book, you can see it on picture 28E.
I bought it on Ebay few years ago from an American seller who did not know anything about it but it was said to be part of an estate collection if I remember well.... The sheath is in jurigan madurese style and is semi old although the silver attachements may be recently made. The blade fits perfectly into the slot, which was not recently cut if I remember well. The original hilt was in rare bajing loncat style and also semi-old or old, and this was the priority incentive for me for buying the kris.
I had obviously the same questions as yourselves about the age of the blade, I sent the picture to at least one Indonesian expert but he was not too sure about it but inclined to think that it is old. I lived in Indonesia and saw thousands of kris blades but not a single one which I could remember as having a similar pamor as this one (roughly applied and very shiny but different from the usual tourist krisses). Accordingly I would personally concur with Alan to believe that this is probably a village-quality blade made in Madura about 50 years ago.
Best regards
Jean
|