This is a really great question, its so basic, yet for somebody who is not into keris it is clear that identification of the various broad classifications can be a total mystery.
I'm not going to attempt to answer this in detail, I'll leave that to everybody else, but I will say this:-
It is possible to identify the geographic point of origin of most varieties of both complete keris, and keris blades.
A complete keris will not infrequently have a blade that has come from a different place than the scabbard, hilt, and other fittings, but the complete keris is classified by what can be seen when the keris is in its scabbard.
When the keris is removed from its scabbard and the blade can be seen, the legitimate classification should include the geographic origin of the blade, if this can be identified. So we would get a classification such as: " a Javanese keris from Jogjakarta with a Bugis blade"
If our members here feel inclined, I could see this thread turn into a classic with pictures of all the different types of keris we can identify, and all those which we cannot identify also.
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