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#1 |
Member
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Devon ,England
Posts: 80
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Hi guys i just got this nice Bali blade .Its another nice blade fallen on hard times
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#2 |
Member
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Devon ,England
Posts: 80
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closer inspection reveals that the second animal is almost certainly a tiger and they both apear to be partly submerged in flowing water/river..the nodules near the aring seem to be rocks with water flowing around them.
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#3 |
Member
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: The Netherlands
Posts: 1,209
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What a shame that this blade is mounted in such a cheap tourist dress.
It is balinese and once it certainly was dressed in a smashing scabbard with a fine ukiran. Unfortunately the mendak is also missing. In my opinion this is a very good blade. It should be cleaned properly with lime juice and re-etched with arsenic. The figures on the gandja were certainly gilded and the engravings once were gilded too. Maybe you should spend some money on this fellow to bring it back in the way it once appeared. Maybe Adni of the Malay Art Gallery can give you some advise. If you have the opportunity to restore it you will have a very fine balinese or lombok keris. I think this one is the effort worth. |
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#4 |
Member
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Devon ,England
Posts: 80
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Thanks Henk thanks for the reply
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#5 |
Vikingsword Staff
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 6,286
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Nah ,
Made in Milwaukee . ![]() ![]() Seriously though capt. , thanks for showing me something I have never before seen in a Bali blade . The Tiger and the Bull are symbols of bravery , no ? Very interesting features . |
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#6 |
Member
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: The Netherlands
Posts: 1,209
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To be honest I really don't know what the meaning is of those symbols on the keris. Ricks remark is a posibility. I've seen such a keris in good condition in a very serious collection. I was even allowed to keep it in my hands. The only thing I could do at that moment was to put up a face like this,
![]() I always thought that such a keris was made for a wealthy person who could afford a keris with gold ornaments. The keris I mentioned had a dress of gold and ivory, that is pointing in such a direction. Symbols of power and strength, reflecting the position of the owner. |
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#7 |
Member
Join Date: Apr 2005
Posts: 91
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Captain Smash' keris from Bali looks very nice. It is a Bali keris like a Javanese keris of the dapur pasopati. The engraving and the carving is intended to be inlaid and wrapped with gold and might have been done anytime. Alot of new tourist keris are made this way. Usualy one would only get the engraving and carving done when one had the money for the gold or one had been given a promotion from the Raja (in Bali never have there been Sultans except visiting).
Although Sultan Agung gave kinatah emas (carved and then wrapped in gold) to everyone of the rank Bupati upwards to celebrate his victory over the kadipaten Pati (with the elephant-lion Gajah Singo symbol on the gandhik), Sultan Agung did not invent the laying of gold on kerises. I have seen Singosari keris with sinarasah (another technique of gold inlay in kerisology) and Singosari was the Java kingdom of 1222-1292, which was founded by Ken Arok who killed Mpu Gandring with the famously coursed unfinished keris. The use of sandpaper and battery acids in cleaning a keris can very easily change the pamor. Opening the pamor (silak waja) should be done once by the Mpu as part of the prayer of the making of the keris which begins and ends with offerings to the gods. The use of warangan is mistakenly called etching but it is not etching as there is no intent of taking away any part of the blade surface but only to contrast the earthly iron from the heavenly meteorite. The pamor on this blade seems now to be uler lulut (tame caterpillar) believed to bring prosperity and make people believe the speach of the owner. One traditional method of cleaning a keris is using a wooden trough soak the rusty keris in the water of several coconuts that have fermented for several days. To get this buy several coconuts that are still in their shells and thus still have the water in them. You should be able to hear the water when you shake the nut. Every nut would have between 1/4-1 cup of water in it. This is not coconut milk don't make a mistake and get coconut milk. Every few days, take the blade out and scrub with lime. Rinse the blade and soak again in the same solution do not change it rather let it ferment further. It can take weeks to clean a very rusty keris but patience is a key component in kerisology. In Bali lore the bull is assosciated with Andini and is the steed of Syiwa the king of the Gods. Tigers are assosciated with courage, military. In wayang stories Pasopati is one of the keris of the hero Arjuna who together with Krisna is the avatar of the God Wisnu. I hope this post is useful, Kiai Carita. |
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#8 | |
Member
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Kansas City, MO USA
Posts: 312
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![]() Quote:
Just to clarify what you mean... you referred to meteorite in the blade, does the blade contain meteoritic material or are you referring to nickel being added to the iron (and it represents the heavenly)? If meteoritic material is present in the blade, is this common and do you know the source? Thanks. |
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#9 |
Member
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Devon ,England
Posts: 80
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Hi guys ive just got a new project blade to work on,its in bad shape with no sign of contrasting pamor.....but does show a layered pattern.Its seems unusualy thick and heavy to me.I got this advertised as "old dagger or bayonet"
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