Help please ,any info?

[A. G. Maisey]

I thought that somebody else might have jumped onto this hilt question before now, but it is still hanging there, so here is my opinion.

It is an opinion only, because this form of hilt has many variations on the same base theme, & those variations cover the North coast of Jawa, East Jawa, & Madura (which is actually a part of East Jawa.

In East Jawa we can refer to it as "Putra Satu", also "Janggelan".

Along the North Coast it might get "Raksasa" or "Yaksha".

In Madura it can be given as "Janggelan" or "Durga" or "Balu Mekabun".

There are other names that might be used, but since we do not know precisely where it might have been originally carved & worn, the above options are sufficient, I think.

There is a half hint as to origin, & that is that the discoloured part of the hilt at its base was once covered by selut --- a sort ferrule --- probably of silver, & this fitting was quite popular in the Cirebon, Tegal & Pekalongan areas of the North Coast.

Here, this hilt has been mated to a Jogjakarta wrongko (scabbard), so it has probably been mated thus by a collector, rather than a user in place of origin.

The material appears to be bone, or perhaps de-natured antler, the carving appears to be good middle quality, I'm guessing age at around 1900, certainly pre-WWII.

Quite a nice hilt, I'd be inclined to separate it from the keris and mount it onto a display stand, & get Jogjakarta planar hilt for the keris.