Taste and Collection

[David]

Isn't it obvious...i was a Balinese prince in a past life...
Seriously i'm am not completely certain what has drawn me to the cultures that i collect from. I came across my first Moro kris in 1981 in an antique mall in New Hampshire and that is what started it all. Obviously i already had an interest in antiques or i wouldn't have been there. I had know idea what this sword was, but it so intrigued me (and prices for this stuff were low back then) so i bought it and began researching it. I found the Moro very interesting, but didn't really start collecting like mad, just reading what i could find (which wasn't much in the pre-internet days ).
Then i had a friend who was leaving town and had a Javanese keris he wanted to sell. I didn't know much about these at the time either, just that it looked like a baby Moro kris. So i bought that and started researching them as well. Still not a lot that i found way back then.
Then, in 2003 the internet changed my world (well, it changed everyone's world ). Yes, i was a late starter. Searching the net led me here. Suddenly i was "home". There were actually other people who where interested in the same thing i was. Not only that, i suddenly found markets in which to explore and acquire more for my meager collection. I found more books on the subject as well and began to build my library. My interests took a strong lean towards Jawa and Bali (though i still collect Moro as well). I think i am strongly attracted to certain spiritual and magickal philosophies of the area, especially the indigenous animistic ones. I also find the history fascinating, if not tragic at times. Least to say that my collection has explodedsince, at least in the area of Indonesian keris. While i can count my Moro weapons on both hands i am completely uncertain how many keris i have at this point. I once told my wife that i would stop at 21 blades and that day is long past.