[A. G. Maisey]

Pak Ganja, you have raised several matters in your recent posts, and I feel I do need to address these matters.In addition, questions have been raised, and explanations given in respect of the public display of private possessions; I wish to add my two-penneth to this matter also.


The relating of a joke about tangguh being invented to give men something to talk about was precisely that:- the recounting of something that had been said to me. In fact, it is a joke against myself, and was delivered as such when I first heard it---I probably spend as much time talking about tangguh as anybody I know. I disagree that such a remark can be destructive, because an understanding of tangguh is inseparable from appraisal of a keris, and appraisal is vital to the continued status of the keris in Jawa.Appraisal of a keris is intimately tied to the value of a keris; since one aspect of the keris is its function as a store of wealth,it is imperative that there be some basis upon which to establish a reference point for potential values.Tangguh gives us this reference point, and as such serves a useful financial and commercial function. Nobody ever discards a useful financial tool. I would suggest that we could make jokes about tangguh until the cows come home, and the only effect it would have would be to create greater confidence in those who have some understanding of how to apply it.There are a multitude of jokes about Wall Street and stockbrokers, but Wall Street is still there, as are the stockbrokers.

Pak Ganja, the overall tenor of your posts seems to have an apologetic or perhaps justificatory tone.
Please forgive me if I am incorrect in this understanding, however, if I am correct , I fail to understand just exactly why you felt that it was necessary to justify or apologise for any of your actions.

Since commencing to contribute to this discussion group you have displayed impeccably good manners, you have shown a number of interesting photographs of tosan aji, and you have commented appropriately.

Apologies? Justification? Why?

In my estimation, completely unnecessary.

I find it unsettling that you have felt the need for this, most especially so if anything I have written may have given rise to this feeling.

I will state again the purpose of my posts to this thread:- I would like to try to influence those people who have some understanding of tangguh to post their opinions in such a way that the opinions will be clearly understood as opinions by people who do not know very much about tangguh, keris, or the Javanese language.
Yes, I know exactly what the meaning of the word "tangguh" is, and I know the way tangguh opinions are accepted, rejected and discussed in a face to face situation, however, for somebody who has never been outside Broken Hill, or Memphis it can be extremely confusing to read what you and I know to be an opinion, presented as a statement of fact.

Let me state unequivocably:- in my writing there has been no explicit, nor implied criticism of any of your actions.It grieves me that you appear to consider that there may have been such criticism.

Now let me talk about the public exhibition of private possessions, keris, and other than keris.

When I was a child I was taught that it was the height of bad manners, and indeed demonstrated a lack of breeding to place one's private possessions on public display.
If one truly valued something, it was kept in private, in one's own home, and only select friends were permitted to view it.It was never---heaven forbid--- placed on public exhibition. This could open one to either criticism , or envy, neither of which could be considered desireable, and in some circumstances could be considered to be dangerous.
Later in life I acquired a teacher other than my parents and grandparents. This teacher was a man of a different culture and society to my own. He taught me a very great deal, amongst what he taught me was a system of values that I found to be remarkably similar to my grandparents values.One of the values he taught me was that any keris which I considered to be my own, and not a keris that was to be offered for sale, should be kept in a private part of my house, and preferably, shown to nobody except those in whom in had absolute trust.
These influences have formed the values that I apply in my everyday life, that is, the lessons of my parents, the lessons of my grandparents, and the lessons of my teacher.
The result is that I will never display publicly any of my personal possessions, most especially any keris which I regard as a part of my personal collection, until such time as I am ready to part with that item.

This could be regarded as a peculiarity by some people, and well it may be, but it is my peculiarity, it has stood me in good stead during my lifetime to date, and I have no intention of changing my attitudes.

Moreover, I have no intention, nor desire to impose my values upon the actions of other people.

At the present time we can see keris exhibitions right left and center, magazines with pinups of keris, many new publications with pictures of keris, thousands of pictures of keris available for public viewing on the web, we can see people posting pictures of keris which they value, here on this website. Clearly, I am the one out of step.

However, I cannot help but feel that each time a prized personal possession is viewed by a stranger, a little of its essence is lost.

How many of us would feel comfortable with our wives taking a role as a naked lady in a film?

How much of the essence of the lady would be lost by such action?

Strangely, I feel much the same about those keris which I regard as my own.


Those who wish to display their personal keris in public have my blessing and my encouragement. I will enjoy continuing to gaze upon those keris, much as I enjoy watching somebody else's naked wife in a movie.

But I will never display my own personal keris, that is, not until such time as I am ready to part company with that keris.

Incidentally, I also have no intention of initiating any divorces.

Having just delivered this sermon, I feel that I need to soften its force just a little.

For those of us who collect keris purely and simply for their art, and not for the emotional force which a keris may generate, then why not display it?

If you regard it purely as a work of art, then why should it not be displayed as any other work of art is displayed?

We all know that works of art are commercial instruments, and as such, good, solid exposure is a positive factor in maintenance of value, most especially so if positive comments can be extracted from critics. This is logical and commercially defensible display, not only that, but it is of value to the entire keris-art community as it helps foster interest, and maintain, or even raise, value. Look at what happens to the value of any art work, or collectable, once it has been published in a book.

So, to sum up:- if your keris is a work of art to you, display it please, and share its art with us, however, if it is something that you regard as a personal part of your life, think about what you are giving to strangers, and losing for yourself, before posting a picture of it to a website.