Keris Combong with markings

[morel5000]

Hi All,

I recently obtained this Keris. I am building a small collection and as I live in the Netherlands, Kerisses can be found here a lot. I will present more of my small collection later on.

The blade shows some inscriptions, or markings. Can anyone tell me what the mean?
Is this a true Keris Combong?

Thanks and best wishes to all,
Michel

[David]

Welcome to the forum!
That does seem to always be the question when we encounter keris that claim to be complong (combong), is it true complong?
For my money to be assessed "true", complong must be a matter of intentional forging. So this rules out holes in sogokan worn through by years of acid washing or slits in the blade from weld failures.
When i look at yours i'm on the fence a bit. The slit in the blade does seem to trace along a weld split. But if that is the case it appears to have been widened and made large on purpose. I suppose it is possible that this open seem was always in the mind of the smith from the get-go. Or it might have been ab after-thought. The weld failed, he couldn't fix it, so he made the best of it and enlarged it to look intentional. Another possibility is that this weld failed after a time and someone came along and decided to make the best of it and turn this into a complong blade. I don't think knowing for sure is possible, which brings us back to belief, a concept upon which many assessments in the keris world are based.

[A. G. Maisey]

The way I was taught to understand complong was that it could be either an intentionally forged hole or gap ("complong" (Jav.) simply means "hole or gap or opening") or one that has been developed through the passing of time.

If it has been developed through the passing of time it has developed because time and its effects are an aspect of God, thus if this complong has any power, that power comes from God.

If the complong was intentionally forged, then that is a complong that has been created by man, so if it has any power, that power depends upon the power of the man who forged it.

Do we trust the power of God, or the power of man?

Then again, some complong are simply the result of bad luck or of incompetence on the part of the man who forged the keris.

How do we distinguish between God, intention, and incompetence?

[morel5000]

Thank you very much, David and A.G. Maisey. Never looked at it that way. Looking at the way the grain of the iron flows, I think it was there during forging. Intentionally? I don't know.

What about the markings? Do they shed any more light on the Keris?

[A. G. Maisey]

I can see something that looks like the remains of markings, but I cannot make much of it, one of these markings looks a bit like erosion of a lamination.

Sorry, I cannot give any opinion on these marks.

With the complong, yeah, certainly it was a cold shut , and when the base of the blade was forged out it opened up. But in my book it makes no real difference.

Whatever one believes will work, will, in fact work --- just maybe not because of the reason that is believed in.

[David]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

With the complong, yeah, certainly it was a cold shut , and when the base of the blade was forged out it opened up. But in my book it makes no real difference.

Whatever one believes will work, will, in fact work --- just maybe not because of the reason that is believed in.

Based upon your experience Alan do you believe this cold shut would have then been worked further to open it up more? It seems pretty wide to have accidentally reached this form. My feeling is that the cold shut formed and then the smith decided to exaggerate it it make it complong.