Blade for identification

[David Gallas]

Last Tuesday I received an open message on facebook, it is still there, that after his mother past away, she was Indonesian, Lampung, his father was Dutch, they found a box with 11 pusakas. They all forgot about the coffin after decades and found it on the top of the house. Opening the coffin, the gentleman suddenly remembered that strange things indeed happened in his youth, such as his father who got a deep cutting on a keris, and when one of the keris inexplicably fell off the wall, ending up right between his fathers toes, the father decided to lock up the kerisses, and it stayed there for 70 years... The gentleman did not dare to remove the plastic from the kerisses, of what he remembered of the keris and I smelled the camphor smell of my youth!!! Opening it was even for me like going back in time...
It is very interesting to see how keris look like from the time when my parents left Indonesia.

I could identify almost everything, indeed as the gentleman told me all Lampung: 3 Rudus, 1 Sewar, 2 Badek, 1 Baladau, 4 Lampung keris with Putri Malu grip. A coulpe with Sepukal keleng blade, One with a Lampung blade and one i can not identify!

It is the last blade of the last picture, that is reshaped, they even made a strange gonjo with pamor, but also the point looks reshaped, i don`t know... The blade looks a bit like the Banten blades from the 17th century, but i am not sure.

Does anny body has an idea???

[Gavin Nugent]

Hi David,

Interesting history within.

Personally I do not see much age to any of the keris.
I don't think they harken back to what would be considered antiquity, although from the history provide they seem to have family importance.

The "Rudus" on the other hand, drop them in to the Ethno discussion group, they show signs of promise.

Gavin

[milandro]

Nice to see these blades but I agree I don't think that the blades or the dress were very old when they arrived in the NL.

The last blade that you say may be a Banten blade may have started its life as a tombak , the Ganja is certainly a later and not too good an addition

[David]

Great discovery!
I agree with Gavin and Milandro that the last blade is not an old Banten keris.
And as Gavin suggested, post the other blades to the Ethno Forum as we only discuss keris on this page.

[kai]

Dear all,

I'd guess that the keris on the right never was a tombak but started its life similar as the 2 on the left side. This is a known style from southern Sumatra that seems to have developed during the late colonial period - not sure when the first example got documented. Good to have additional evidence - thanks for posting, David!

The second keris from the right looks like a genuine antique blade with also old fittings (except for the scabbard stem and its silver bands which seem to be a later restoration.

As mentioned, the 3 swords are typical examples from southern Sumatra. David, can you confirm if the name rudus has also been in use in Lampung? I'm only aware of its use considerably further North (for a different type of blade).

I'd like to see the blades of the 4 additional pieces, too. As mentioned, posting these on the main forum would be much preferred.

Regards,
Kai

[David Gallas]

Yes sorry, let me give some extra info. They are all very promissing to me, except for the last keris. Let me explain a little. Last year i became the new PM for the dutch Pencak Silat federation the NPSF, and I am working on 2 big projects now.
Starting the training in fighting and training the spiritual part and maintaining the quality of the blank weapons toghether with Indonesia to the new generation here in Holland. We still have a lot of pusaka that are beeing used here.
And a big international cultural event in Holland with an exposition of museum peaces of the museum Banten and the Lamakkawa Bone collection with beautiful golden keris from the Bone kingdom.
Also a big Indonesian delegation is comming like Guru besar Ki Kunbang and Guru Besar Parewa La Mataesso Sopeng with the police of Banten.But also Mr K. H. Tb. Sangadiah, the museum director of the Banten Museumis comming.
Prof Dr Rudy Heriyanto is also comming, writer of the book The Golok. All comming to give seminars here in Holland.
We already met in november, and trained toghether, and we are supporting their mission to also bring the Golok to Unesco. So i have the unique chance to learn a lot from first hand...
So the fact that those blank weapons came to me on this moment is a good coincident!

The 2 Lampung keris are perfect for me, with the typical grip and the Sepukal blade, just as they wanted it in east Sumatra. They were made for his grand-parents so i gues maybe 1910 to 1930?
The 3rd keris is the family pusaka and is old. He couldn't tell me how old, but he was talking about several generations.

Interesting Kai, i must admit that i only know a little about the east Javanese keris...

I tried to make some better pictures of the first 3 keris

[David Gallas]

Oh yes about the name Rudus. The Sumatran people who live in Holland call it Rudus. Most of them are mixed, have Dutch fathers and Indonesian mothers.. Like the gentlman on the picture, he is very light skin, but his brother is very dark skin..

[David Gallas]

Aha, the sun starts shining in Belgium, now i have some good light.

The first picture is from the Patrem Sepukal blade, the second also from the Sepukal blade but the large keris, but i see that it has some kind of pamor patern in the blade. The 3rd pictrue is from their family pusaka. And the last picture is from the keris i do not realy understand what it is and an extra picture of the gonjo. It is a realy big and heavy blade.

[David]

Hi David. I am afraid i was quite serious about the fact that we do not discuss blades that are not keris on this forum. Please post these other blades on the Ethno Forum if you would like feedback on them. Thanks!

[kai]

Thanks for the additional pics, David!

Ok, let's stick with the keris here only:
As mentioned, I feel all 3 examples coming from a similar environment, possibly made by village bladesmiths. It is interesting to note the strong differences in the laminations (pamor). The separate gonjo of the one on the right does seem to be made from very different stock than the blade, indeed. Unless there are any clear signs of later replacement, it still might be original; at least I'm having a hard time why anyone would fiddle around with such a blade, especially since it apparently left Indonesia only a few decades after its manufacture. (This type of pamor is not what we see on well-preserved early keris, even if repolished.)

I still like the keris second from right; it's an old blade in reasonable condition that should restore well. I'd posit it originally came from Madura as a trade blade.

Regards,
Kai

[David Gallas]

No problem David, your right!

Thank you Kai!