Seven village metal?

[A. G. Maisey]

I've got a pendok that is on an old Solo keris that is made from a metal that is the colour of copper, but it has never tarnished like copper. It is definitely not suasa, I have no idea what it is. I've had it about 45 years.

The keris that goes with this keris has some kinatah work that I thought was brass when I bought it, but it also never tarnished, and is not gold.

[David]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

I've got a pendok that is on an old Solo keris that is made from a metal that is the colour of copper, but it has never tarnished like copper. It is definitely not suasa, I have no idea what it is. I've had it about 45 years.

The keris that goes with this keris has some kinatah work that I thought was brass when I bought it, but it also never tarnished, and is not gold.

Just out of curiousity, why are you so sure it's not suasa?

[A. G. Maisey]

Suasa is just low content rose gold, anything gold is easy to test, this stuff was tested years ago.

[David]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

Suasa is just low content rose gold, anything gold is easy to test, this stuff was tested years ago.

OK, I see, it's non-tarnishing, but there is no gold content....

[A. G. Maisey]

The pendok looks like copper, but has never tarnished like copper; it has not maintained a bright, polished finish, but the build up of tarnish that we commonly find on copper that has never been polished over an extended period of time is missing.

The kinatah on the blade has a brassy look to it, but again, no cleaning for the time I've had it, just an occasional oiling, and no tarnish. I've had keris with brass kinatah, and in my experience the kinatah has tarnished pretty quickly.

I find this puzzling, but it is fact. Don't ask me to explain it, I cannot, I'm simply reporting it.

[Jean]

I think that the alloy described by Pusaka could be gongso, I saw some very nice pendoks made from this materials but don't own any in my collection. I have some old "singing" bowls and confirm that they did not tarnish at all since 20 years, I can send some pictures if you are interested.
Best regards
Jean

[Jean]

Sorry, I forgot this kris (1.4.4) which has a pendok made from gongso I think (looks like gold, very thick, does not tarnish).
And the pendok of kris 1.4.13 is made from a copper alloy which does not tarnish much as described by Alan.
Best regards
Jean

[Pusaka]

Originally Posted by Jean

I think that the alloy described by Pusaka could be gongso, I saw some very nice pendoks made from this materials but don't own any in my collection. I have some old "singing" bowls and confirm that they did not tarnish at all since 20 years, I can send some pictures if you are interested.
Best regards
Jean

Jean I think you hit the nail on the head, I did a google image search for gongso Pendok and have included the an image below. This pendok looks exactly like mine, as you can see it also has not tarnished.

What I also found very interesting is that when I did the search I found many images of gamelan instruments which suggests that musical instruments are also made of this alloy. It would be very interesting now to know what gongso is made from and if it is similar to the metal Tibetan singing bowls are made from.

http://cherykeris.blogspot.com/

EDIT:

Further searching has revealed something quite interesting, gongso metal literally means gamelan metal suggesting that it is indeed the same alloy from which some gamelan instruments are made.