Keris Bugis for comments

[A. G. Maisey]

I reckon we've seen more of them during the last few years , like say, 20 years.

I never ever saw them prior to about the 1990's this is only an approximation, but to put it another way, during the period from 1953 to 1990 I never had a Bugis keris in my hands or face to face, that had any sort of toli2. Never.

Then, all of a sudden I started to see very flamboyant confections, skilfully crafted in metal, and with all the hallmarks of Javanese craftsmanship.

During the "dry period" I had seen some very elegant, very expensive Bugis keris with a sort of "badge" on the front that I guess was supposed to represent a toli2, I even bought one of these in maybe the 1960's.

But these metal toli2's would not have been affordable nor useful for the common man, how many of these expensive toli2's were there in say, pre-WWII Bugis populated areas?

Something else:- how often do we ever see a genuine old fabric toli2?

During the last 60+ years I have owned two of these fabric toli2's, one was absolutely rotten and was put into the garbage, the other is pretty much in pieces and I still have it, but not on a scabbard.

I have said that to my eye these toli2's that we see now display Javanese craftsmanship, however, I have never seen them for sale in Central Jawa, and I am absolutely certain that if they are being made in Central Jawa, I would have seen some there.

So maybe they're being produced in Lombok, or maybe Surabaya. Both places have a vibrant keris trade and dealers do source from both these places. It is not at all beyond the bounds of possibility that Javanese skills have been transferred to other areas.

The two really big silver-work production areas in Indonesia are Kota Gede, near Jogja, and Celuk in Bali, near Ubud. A lot of supposedly Balinese silver-work originates in Jogja, because the wage rates are lower.

Javanese silver work can be as good as the best anywhere in the world. The workshop of Priyo Salim in Kota Gede has produced silver artifacts for clients across the world and his best work is second to none, however, there are a lot of little independent craftsmen in both Kota Gede and Celuk who produce very provincial work that has no difficulty at all in looking as if it was made in a village 150 years ago. The work in the toli2 that Marius has shown us is (with apologies) of this provincial quality.

The work in the toli2 that Mick posted in one of the old threads is very high quality work. If that scabbard is post-WWII production it was in my opinion produced in Kota Gede or Celuk, or by a craftsman whose gained his skills from one of those schools.

So why do we now see things that we did not see previously?

Market demand.

If there is a need for something in the marketplace, it will be provided.

[Battara]

Alan, thank you for your well argued and sensible reply. I agree whole heartedly with your observations of the recent rise in toll-tolis in this particular style, wondering if they were in fact recent recreations. Market place pressures - yup!