Thread: My first keris
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Old 4th February 2007, 09:56 PM   #12
Mick
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Everything about your keris says Palembang. The ukrin and its selut, the wrangka, and the blade are all Palembang style. You even have the remnants of original Palembang gold work on the ganja and the gandik. Palembang gold work was not installed as well as the Javanese work. The Javanese worked the steel in high relief to the design required and placed large cuts in the surface of this relief. The gold was then hammered on top of these surfaces so that it was forced into these cuts and then carved to the final design. The steel in Palembang was not done in such high relief and the gold was placed over the top of the areas as a cap hammered down and then carved to the final design. This allowed the gold to be removed in larger pieces than either the Javanese or the Balinese work and this is what happened to the gold on your keris. You can see the remnants of the work in the light engraving of the ganja and the gandik as well as small pieces of the gold sticking out of the cracks at the base of both of these features where the cap was fastened.

Except for a Palembang pendok, if you want to see the attributes of a Palembang keris, just hold your keris in your hand. Extremely good work for a beginner.
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