Talismanic or just randomly placed copper dots

[VVV]

Originally Posted by Bill

....But I have also seen a high % of talismanic blades with what appears to be tang replacements.
Could this blade be made this way deliberately? Some of the work looks like it was sawed/filed in a straight line/box; while some (like yours) are rather uneven (made in the forging process?). The tang being made of some metal of spiritual value (old sword, etc) & being added to the new sword; an old Jin, you might say?

I think Bill had the right idea already in this early post with adding metal of spiritual value (combined with all the other talismanic features).
But it doesn't need to be from another kris. It wasn't that unusual for instance to do a Haj to Mecca. If somebody had brought with them pieces of metal from Kabah I assume that the proper place to put it, as a talisman or amulet, was just below the ganya.
It could also be from some other, spiritually charged metal, maybe from somebody with saint-status (wali) ? Similar to the Malay concept of keramat or the Indonesian sakti? The charged metal could also have been from the same source and later ceremonially been divided among the panglimas or datus within the same sultanate?
In more Northern part of the Philippines I know of such ceremonies among brothers in arms taking place even today.

Michael

[Tim Simmons]

That sounds good to me and you say this pratice happens today.

If the tang was made from a seperate piece or to represent a special piece of spiritual metal, that needed to be seen rather than mixed in the forging of the blade. It may well explain why I can see the kris being originally made in three parts. The matching of the two parts of the blade may still be a reason for a seperate tang but I do like the special metal idea. A neat solution to incorporate and show this concept.