Kebo Lajer with Kul buntet - opinions?

A. G. Maisey · 14th July 2009, 11:52 PM

Erik, I have a few questions about these gold specks:-

1) have they been tested and confirmed as being gold?

2) if they have been tested, what carat gold are they? ( this is important as it could give an indication of originality)

3) is there any gold in the lower parts of the blade surface, or is it confined to high points on the blade?

4) is there gold on both sides of the blade ?

5) has an examination under high magnification been carried out to attempt to determine how these gold specks are fixed to the blade?

6) do we have any provenance? (by this I mean has this keris come directly from Indonesia, or has it been in a western culture for some period of time?)

7) the blade stain appears to be quite fresh; do we know where this was done, and how long ago?

The yellowish specks that I can see do not appear to be in a place or pattern that would indicate residual kinatah work, additionally the blade form (dhapur) is one that is very, very seldom found with kinatah work.If a conscientious examination were to be carried out some plausible explanation for these specks may be able to be proposed, but in the absence of such examination all we can do is guess.

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14th July 2009, 11:52 PM	#9
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,991	Erik, I have a few questions about these gold specks:- 1) have they been tested and confirmed as being gold? 2) if they have been tested, what carat gold are they? ( this is important as it could give an indication of originality) 3) is there any gold in the lower parts of the blade surface, or is it confined to high points on the blade? 4) is there gold on both sides of the blade ? 5) has an examination under high magnification been carried out to attempt to determine how these gold specks are fixed to the blade? 6) do we have any provenance? (by this I mean has this keris come directly from Indonesia, or has it been in a western culture for some period of time?) 7) the blade stain appears to be quite fresh; do we know where this was done, and how long ago? The yellowish specks that I can see do not appear to be in a place or pattern that would indicate residual kinatah work, additionally the blade form (dhapur) is one that is very, very seldom found with kinatah work.If a conscientious examination were to be carried out some plausible explanation for these specks may be able to be proposed, but in the absence of such examination all we can do is guess.