Friends Keris

[nechesh]

Originally Posted by kai

I have mixed feelings with the blade - if pressed hard I'd therefore tend to a conservative guess, i. e. 20c. I agree with Rick that the file work is quite nice. OTOH, the scroll work seems to be a bit shallow (from the pics). The convex side of the first luk could flow nicer and also the engraved lines don't follow the luks perfectly (cp. pic #4).

Kai, wouldn't the specifics you mention have more to do with the SKILL of the smith than the actual age of the blade. Smith of many different skill levels have always been around. It does seem to me that this particular dapor (if i may borrow a Javanese term here ) is much more common in 19thC blades than 20th. There does seem to be a seperate gangya, so if pressed i would guess this was 19thC work.
The sheath also looks like older work.Was it made for the blade (i.e. how's the fit?)