An Unfortunate Fate of a Good (?) Keris

[rasdan]

Hi all,

Just to share my keris. Last weekend, i went back to my hometown in Johore and was presented with this keris by my relative. Judging on the sheath, I think its a bugis keris . The sheath was originally wider but it was narrowed down perhaps to facilitate wearing. Sheath wood unknown. Its black and even the grain inside is black. It is useless and needs replacement. To replace or not? Thats the question. The blade inside is teribly corroded. (I dont think its fake...hee..hee ) The metal looks like wood due to the corrosion.

What interests me is that the pamor is quite unique. One side is vertical pamor Raja Abala Raja with some Akhodiat and on the other mlumah pamor of unknown kind. Perhaps this is a Javaneese keris in a Bugis sheath, but the tang is original (not cut) and it is too short for a Javaneese keris. Overall blade length 12 1/2 inch. Do u guys think its worth keeping? Im really dissapointed in the corrosion.

[Alam Shah]

Sad..sad...very sad. The blade looks like a good piece...
if you don't want it, i'll keep it for you. Or if you wish, sell it to me.

What I'll do is, i'll clean it, then framed in a wooden box with a glass case, just the blade, and hang it in my living room...

[nechesh]

Well Rasdan, just the fact that it was presented to you by a relative would me enough for me to consider this a keeper.
I would do my best to remove or at least halt the rust, re-dress it nicely, oil it and treat it with gentle loving care.
It would appear that this was once a very nice keris.
I suspect this is a Bugis blade as well.

[rasdan]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the advice and support. I dont think i can/will sell the pusaka. It is an honour given to me to take care of it regardless of the condition. I think i'll give it a new dress and keep it in my room. Actually i was given quite a number of assorted weapons, mostly javaneese, but i left them in my in law's house in johore. I only take 6 back to KL. The blade conditons of these pusakas mostly are poor and their dresses are inappropriate. Its quite a headache too to figure out how I should restore them. But its worth it, i think.

[Alam Shah]

If you're around singapore, maybe you can drop by and we can chat.
Do you know about Malay Art Gallery. (Owner is one of our forumite Adni Aljunied.)

Maybe you can bring your piece there. I sure Adni can help.
BTW, the Upacara Suro, that I'm talking about will be held on the 12/02/05
and 13/02/05 at the Malay Heritage Centre, Singapore.

You can bring down your kerises to be cleansed, on the day.
There is a small token sum (fee) for each keris.
There will also be a lot of other activites throughout the 2 days.
For illustration, you can visit Paul's Keris Page...

[rahman]

This brings back memories ... I had to clean my late father's keris, with about 25 years of rust and neglect. Fortunately, there was little damage but it took me 3 days and 3 nights of careful cleaning.

Then there was an old Palembang piece .. also took a couple of days. At the end, you gain a sense of satisfaction when you look at the before and after pix.

See if you can repair the sheath. The sampir looks like kemuning. It may well be a Malay keris, but if it's Bugis it would be very old since the Bugis used to control Johor Lama.

[mykeris]

Very good keris pusaka. Worth keeping.