I understand what you're saying here David, but I truly believe this is misplaced caution.
As you point out, local buyers of recent keris , in Jawa, mostly want a certain look to their recent keris, so the keris are artificially aged to give the buyers what they want.
You could liken this to "make-up".
Is it even remotely possible that one would mistake a 50 year old lady wearing make-up, for an 18 year old girl?
The same applies in reverse with a keris. However, just as we all understand the indicators that tell us the difference between a 50 year old lady, and an 18 year old girl, so must we understand the indicators that tell us whether a keris is recent, or has some age.
One must learn to look past the "make-up" of the blade and base judgement upon other factors.
Bear this in mind also:- at the market level where most of us collect, the impact on value of a blade, whether presented as "old", or "recent", is very slight, if it exists at all. It pretty much comes down to whether an individual collector prefers an aged look, or smooth finish---a la Bali.
Where false aging can have an impact is at the market level where we talk thousands and tens of thousands of dollars, not hundreds of dollars. At that level, if a forger wishes to decieve, he will, and it is unlikely that anybody will detect his forgery. The most well known collectors, the really famous names have all been decieved at some time. Nobody will escape a determined and clever forger.
However, it is simply not worth the effort for these talented thieves to waste their time at the market level where most of us collect. At the level where we buy, a keris is still going to be worth about the same, whether it is old or new. Individually we might be a little disappointed if we buy something as old, and later find that it is recent, but its still going to be worth about the same amount of money.
We all know about buying the keris, not the story, and this artificial age thing falls into the same category. If you don't like the keris, irrespective of whether it is supposed to be old or recent, don't buy it.
However, having said all of that, I personally find that it is impossible for me to give pointers on how to identify with any certainty a blade that has been deliberately aged, based only upon the appearance of the surface of the material.
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