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#1 |
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Join Date: Jan 2022
Location: Netherlands
Posts: 446
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I was debating this with a friend about these decoration I have on a modern Bugis keris.
I recently visited a Dutch dealer who just got a shipment with at least a dozen of Bugis krises showing material with looked pretty much the same. Now , I always thought it was embossed on a sheet of aluminum but both my friend and the dealer told me it was Mamas, although Mamas often shows a " golden" sheen . Sorry about the quality of the images they are a cropped image |
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#2 |
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Join Date: May 2006
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Impossible to know what it is from a photo.
However, to the best of my knowledge, mamas has not been used in Jawa since the 1930's and I have only seen mamas used in Jawa. |
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#3 |
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Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Germany, Dortmund
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I agree with Ian, I have seen mamas only by Javanese and Lombok items, never by Bugis blades. I guess that it could be a modern nickel alloy but like Ian stated it's impossible to judge from pictures.
Regards, Detlef |
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#4 |
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Location: Netherlands
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thanks, I don't think this is nickel or an alloy with nickel because they are generally very hard and brittle and wouldn't take gently the embossing or perhaps better called chasing .
This has to be a soft material anyway. |
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#5 |
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Location: Germany, Dortmund
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#6 |
Keris forum moderator
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Nova Scotia
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I have obviously seen mamas and have quite few examples in my collection, but is there a strict and exacting make-up to this alloy, or does the formula vary somewhat?
Milandro, i don't recall mamas necessarily always having a golden sheen. |
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#7 |
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Join Date: May 2017
Location: Germany
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I’m wondering where mamas comes from. An alloy made of nickel ( and others) seems not to be easy to be produced / melted.
Silver will be availiable from coins or traded billets It can be hammered to thin metal sheets if its needed. Zinc and tin (?) Will be common to use it for an alloy but nickel ? Modern coins are made of nickel and copper with 75% copper and 25% nickel. Is there a different usage for mamas to use it mainly for different pieces than our weapons. |
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#8 |
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See post #5:-
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...412#post288412 A little more in depth info:- https://journals.openedition.org/artefact/1996 EDIT there is another material that is sometimes used in ornamentation in SE Asia, & that is tin, we often find it used in seluts, where it is nearly always mistaken for silver --- until the little bottle of test fluid gets opened. Last edited by A. G. Maisey; 2nd March 2024 at 11:23 PM. Reason: Afterthought |
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#9 |
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Location: Netherlands
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So I have my answer from the last comment
Tin it is! The difference with aluminum is pretty easy to assess and that is that tin is magnetic whilst aluminum isn't. I tested with a magnet and , lo and behold, it is attracting the decoration plates. https://sciencing.com/change-color-m...s-8584080.html |
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