Keris Bali

[David]

Originally Posted by VANDOO

IT IS MODERN AND DONE IN THE TYPICAL BALI STYLE. IT IS CERTIANLY ART BUT IS IT A KERIS?
IT HAS EXCELLENT WOOD CARVING AND METAL WORK AND SET WITH LOW QUALITY GEM STONES AND IS A BEAUTIFUL HIGH END ITEM. IF LOCAL PEOPLE IN BALI BUY THEM FOR A FAMILY KERIS THEN ITS A KERIS. IF ONLY TOURISTS BUY THEM FOR SOUVINEERS BECAUSE THEY ARE PRETTY THEN THEY ARE ART IN THE FORM OF A KERIS. AT LEAST THATS MY VIEW ON IT.

Barry, you are leaving out an entire community of keris collectors both in Indonesia and abroad who consider these to be BOTH works of art AND keris. Higher end keris like this one are not really produced for the common tourist market as the common tourist is not willing to pay the price of it for a remembrance of their trip to Bali.
Less and less Indonesians are buying new keris for cultural reasons, but their are many collectors in Bali who support the making of the contemporary keris. My own criteria for whether it is a keris or not is whether it holds true to the tradition manufacture of keris and whether it is of a design which has been traditional accepted as a keris. This particular dhapur which you show, though rare, certainly has as older examples of it can be found.