Keris for ID and Comments

[David]

Originally Posted by Jean

Hello David,
My exception is that you called the dapur Kebo Teki which is a Central Java dapur and applies to a straight blade.
Regards

Thanks you Jean. I was not aware that Kebo Teki is only a Central Jawa dhapur. I am afraid that with today's standard of going wild and willy with dhapur names i was also unaware that Kebo Teki was only a designation for a lurus blade.
That said, i am taking Alan's suggestions under advisement (even if he is throwing caution to the wind here ) and will accept his description and perhaps adopt his preference for "Mahesa" over "Kebo". Sometimes it's hard to shake the terminology one is first introduce to even when a classier term comes along.

[A. G. Maisey]

Jean, Tuban is undoubtedly in East Jawa, it is about 100km west of Surabaya, but it is also a sea port on the north coast thus it is a coastal town, and in my experience people tend to regard anything along the north coast as "pesisir" rather than "West Jawa", "Central Jawa", or "East Jawa". I'd guess because of the historical reasons associated with ceding territory to the Dutch.

But insofar as keris are concerned, a classification of "Tuban" wipes out any other possibility:- we simply do not take an each way bet and classify something as Tuban then give it as East Jawa. Same idea as not giving something as Tangguh Surakarta and then adding Jawa Tengah.

In fact, Mahesa/Kebo Dengen in its standard form has five luk, it is never a straight keris, but when it varies from five luk, the number of luk should be mentioned.

On the other hand Kebo/Mahesa Teki in its standard form is a straight keris, although it is sometimes met with bearing luk, in which case we mention how many luk.

The big difference between Mahesa Teki and Mahesa Dengen is that Mahesa Teki has a plain gandhik, no kembang kacang, no lambe gajah, no jalen, whilst Mahesa Dengen has the kembang kacang, lambe gajah and jalen.

Incidentally, I cannot remember all this stuff about ricikan and dhapur, I remember bits of it that are sufficient (usually) for me to question something, then I check.

[David]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

On the other hand Kebo/Mahesa Teki in its standard form is a straight keris, although it is sometimes met with bearing luk, in which case we mention how many luk.

The big difference between Mahesa Teki and Mahesa Dengen is that Mahesa Teki has a plain gandhik, no kembang kacang, no lambe gajah, no jalen, whilst Mahesa Dengen has the kembang kacang, lambe gajah and jalen.

Thank you for making the distinction for us Alan. I thought i had seen keris named Kebo/Mahesa Teki in the past that had luks. I should have been paying more attention to the the other ricikan.

[Mickey the Finn]

It looks like it has perhaps suffered some sort of damage, perhaps by fire? I have a very similar one, which is definitely scorched and blackened at the end (opposite where the pesi goes in). I suspect that in my case, someone may have been carrying out some sort of test, I'd assume for synthetic/real bone or ivory. Is that cleaned up fire damage or artifact of some other kind?

[A. G. Maisey]

I believe that close examination of the irregular area of the hilt will reveal that it is the core material of either bone or de-natured antler.

[Jean]

The pitting/ decay visible in the the top part of the hilt on the third pic is typical of buffalo bone IMO, but it would be useful to inspect the pesi hole also.
Regards

[David]

I agree with both these gentlemen Mickey. The pitting is the nature of the material. Perhaps yours is not fire damage either. If you post a photo we may be able to tell.