Odd or traditional selut for a Donoriko?

[A. G. Maisey]

Yes, possibly it did Gustav, in much the same manner that various keris and tombak & etc that I have seen over the years belonged to various people with royal associations. Selling odds and ends, including weaponry, with a royal provenance has been a good way to raise funds for a long time. Perhaps the most famous example of hoodwinkery applied to the eyes of a bule --- or in this case a whole collection of gullible bules --- is the Knaud Keris. This had royal provenance too. Supposedly. My apologies to all:- I'm a skeptic.

Or maybe one of girls decided it looked nicer than the plain old hilts that were normally fitted. Bear in mind the very close ties between Surakarta and Sumenep, and the fact that we're talking about a daughter.

Fact of the matter is that if we look hard enough we can find all sorts of strange variation, not only in weaponry, but in just about everything else to do with Jawa. Ivory Madura hilts are nice, and its easy to understand why somebody would want to fit one to something else, but where we have a specific type of artifact, with an established form, such as is the case with the Mangkunegaraan daggers and with this miniaturised pedang suduk form, a variation from that form, no matter who it is may be associated with, is an anomaly.

I'm not necessarily saying that such an anomaly is a bad thing, and where we are talking about a minor item of dress, or something for an ornament or that has been created in accordance with a personal whim, or for a specific reason --- such as to please a GG --- we do have an example of anomaly, and such anomaly should not be interpreted as an example of a legitimate form. Because it is not.

And as for those seluts --- enough said.

Here's the Surakarta dagger in Court Arts.