The other Palembang flee market keris

[PeterP]

Hi, this is the other Palembang keris I bought at a flee markt. Also a nice one I think. Less smooth as the other one, but as i see it still a very good quality blade. It has some remnants of kinatah on top of the ganja. The grip is a bit less robust and the wood is of a lesser quality wood. A weird thing, which I have never seen before, is that the scabbard is made of two parts but split in the middle, not on the sides. So there is a left and a right part, instead of front and back. Can't imagine that this wasn't covered with a pendok.
Is this also a Palembang blade or from another area incorporated in a Palembang dress? Any thoughts or comments on this piece?
The total length of the keris is 53 cm, the blade without peksi is 40 cm.

[A. G. Maisey]

I recently parted with a Bugis style keris that had the same method of gandar construction. It was the only one I had ever seen --- until I saw the picture of this one.

[kai]

This is a pretty common way of construction of scabbards for northern Melayu keris coteng.

Also typical for western Sumatran Sewar - thus, this idea has been around.

Very unusual for Palembang or all of southern Sumatra though.

Regards,
Kai

[GIO]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

I recently parted with a Bugis style keris that had the same method of gandar construction. It was the only one I had ever seen --- until I saw the picture of this one.

I also have one. Now you can say you have seen two !

[A. G. Maisey]

Thanks GIO.

[Sajen]

A panjang with the same gandar construction.

[A. G. Maisey]

It is interesting the way these are showing up. I have only ever had one in my hands & had never seen another.

Now, measure that against how many keris I have had possession of & have seen. By about age 30 I had +/- 3000 keris in various states of repair, at age 30 I had 18 years experience with keris.

By around age 45 I had a lot less keris, I began getting rid of lesser keris as I began to understand the "quality" concept, & Empu Suparman was the single biggest influence in this.

However, most of the keris I have seen, owned, handled have been Javanese & Balinese.

Probably this way of making a gandar might be something that is limited to Sumatera & the Peninsula, to my mind this means that historically these places did not know about the segrek, the tool with reverse teeth that is used to make a gandar with no joints.