Thoughts on restoring an old mendak?
 

This mendak belongs to the Keris Lurus from Yogyakarta shown in this thread: http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=899

It's pretty much beaten up and the traditional approach would probably be to recycle the materials and to craft a new mendak from them. However, the museum soul in me would like to preserve it and possibly restore it as much as necessary (if suitable). Any suggestions (includinng advice to leave it alone ;) ) welcome!

Materials: The inner tube seems to be copper, the rest is some gold alloy. I suspect that the stones are low grade intans.

Regards,
Kai

In my humble opinion, just leave it alone. If quite difficult to match the material finish to this mendak. Instead of enhancing it, in the end you'll tend to damage it. Keep it as it is.

Get a new one if you must. ;)

PERHAPS KEEPING THE OLD ONE AS IS AND HAVING A NEW ONE MADE COPYING THE OLD ONE WOULD BE THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS. GOOD LUCK :)

agree with VANDOO

Kai, i'm afraid this mendak looks like a lost cause to me. I'm not so sure you have a gold alloy there as much as plated brass, judging by the amount of corrosion. You could recycle the "stones", but from the chips and cracks i'd say it's possible they are not intans, but glass. Even if they are intans they probably wouldn't look right in a new setting considering how beat up they are. Fairly high quality mendaks made of silver and gold or gold plate with gemstones are still being made today in Jawa, pretty much in this style. My advise would be to stick this one in a draw and seek out a new one. :)

Ya, good idea. Commission a new similar looking piece.
The art is still alive in Indonesia. I'm sure you can get contacts for commissioning one. ;)

Thanks, Alam, for picking up the thread! I'll follow the combined wisdom and leave it as is (it's not looking too bad together with the keris as can be seen on that other thread). Thanks for the input, folks!

Regards,
Kai

This seems to be one of the most common mendak styles of the region. I'll probably try to find an older example which could replace the broken one - sooner or later... ;)

Regards,
Kai

Thanks, Nechesh! I won't bet my collection on the gold thing either... ;) (The collector who I got this from claimed to had had it tested but I'm basing my decisions on the blade anyway.)

The stones scratch glass as easily as does a real diamond (in a glass cutting tool). That's why I came up with the intan hypothesis. I need to run them by an expert for sure - just for curiosity...


BTW, isn't there somewhere an online "Complete idiots guide to sorting out fake gems"? I could use a few hints on several other decorative stones from my collection.


Yup, and also my personal taste doesn't favor adding newly crafted fittings on an old blade. Even if these are of really good workmanship, they tend to look too gaudy from my point of view. :o

Regards,
Kai