Keris with replacement piece

[thomas hauschild]

Hi guys.

Not to late to wish a happy new year. I got this keris some month ago. Clearly described by the seller as gold plated. But I liked it and it found the way to me together with other keris.

The lower part of the scabbard looked not like the real deal. A test with a hot needle shows melting plastic. I found the time now to replace it.

I think a Minangkabau Keris (?), the feeling is that the blade is older than the fittings. The lower piece was replaced maybe due to a lost by ivory-looking resin. I think it is better now with the same material. I tested to scratch a glass with that red stones. They where able to scratch it easily.

Best Thomas

[Sajen]

Hi Thomas,

Wow, a great Minangkabau keris and a well done restore job! Also when I imagine that the original foot could have looked a little bit different.
The blade is very typical for this sort of Minang keris and all could be of the same age IMVHO. The stones will be rubies I guess.

Regards,
Detlef

[A. G. Maisey]

A nicely done replacement.

The red stones are either pastes or garnets, if they scratch easily as you have noted, probably pastes, but that depends upon what they were scratched with, I'd get them into good directed light and use a jeweller's loupe on these stones, try to find inclusions in them, if you find inclusions the probability could be that they are garnets.

[David]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

A nicely done replacement.

The red stones are either pastes or garnets, if they scratch easily as you have noted, probably pastes, but that depends upon what they were scratched with, I'd get them into good directed light and use a jeweller's loupe on these stones, try to find inclusions in them, if you find inclusions the probability could be that they are garnets.

I believe what Thomas was saying is that the stones scratched the glass, not the other way around. I suspect they are more likely garnets than rubies, but probably real gemstones.

[A. G. Maisey]

Yes, true, I misread it.

So, very probably garnets, but in Indonesia they would be named as "mirah", be they rubies, garnets, or pastes.

[Sajen]

Both, garnets and rubies can scratch glass, rubies have a hardness from 9 on the Mohs scala, garnets between 6,5 and 7,5. Glas has a hardness from 6. With the thick gilding I guess that the stones are rubies.

[A. G. Maisey]

Detlef, if these red stones are rubies then that keris is an extremely valuable item, I mean bigtime.

On the other hand, gold plate is not expensive at all.

Rubies & a plastic buntut?

I rather think not.

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

Rubies & a plastic buntut?

The plastic buntut would have been a replacement for a lost ivory buntut.

[A. G. Maisey]

Yes Detlef, true, the plastic could be a replacement for an original ivory buntut, so let's just set the incongruity of plastic and rubies to one side, let's just focus on the idea that these red stones might be rubies.

The first thing to consider is that we are only basing our opinions on a photo of some red stones, so what red gemstones are there?

Considering only crystalline stones we have spinel, garnet, ruby, zircon, tourmaline, there might be other possibilities but these red stones are the ones that come readily to mind, and that based upon the colour of the stones used on this keris, might be possibilities.

The cut of the keris stones is marquise & round cut, the size is very difficult to gauge, but taking a more or less informed guess, I'd say that the larger marquise stones are +/- about 5.5mm X 3mm, the larger round stones +/- 3.5mm X 3.5mm, ruby is a relatively dense stone, it weighs pretty heavy when compared to other gemstones, & it is usually a comparatively small stone compared to say sapphire --- sapphires can get up to 80-100carat in gem quality, with rubies most gem quality stones are only around 1carat to 1.5carat.

A natural 1 carat pigeon blood ruby with good cut, & clean to the eye (this means no inclusions that can be seen without the aid of magnification & light) would have an approximate value on todays market of up to $US20,000.

Eye watering, isn't it?

Yep rubies cost, like bigtime.

I'd guess that none of the stones used in this keris would come anywhere near 1carat in weight, maybe the bigger ones might be around .5carat, or less, so let's say the biggest stones in this keris are about .4carat, let's also say --- just for the sake of discussion --- that they are pretty low gem quality stones. A ruby that would fit into this classification would have a value of around $US200.

Based upon what I believe I can see in the photos, the stones used on this keris have passable cut, pretty OK clarity & colour, so if they are rubies they are not low quality, more like middle quality, & thus would have a higher value than $US200 each for the larger ones.

Now let us look at the way in which these stones have been set. The settings are decidedly amateurish, definitely not the work of even a halfway competent jeweller, and the stones are bedded onto some sort of black material, probably gum, or maybe pitch. This is decorative work, not the work of a jeweller.

How many stones are involved here? I'd guess about 40 odd stones of varying sizes, all less than .5carat stones, but still, a pretty considerable total carat weight, & if they are indeed rubies, well, we're looking at a reasonably high value.

What is the pendok material? We know it is gold plated, not gold. Silver? Brass?

To my mind, the use of very expensive gemstones in a keris that is at best middle quality simply does not make any sense at all.

I do hope that if Thomas should decide to have these stones appraised by a qualified gemologist that my guess work will be proven wrong, but right now I do not see rubies here, I see one of the more affordable gemstones, & garnets would be a good fit, based upon the deep red of the garnet, & how easy they are to obtain.