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#1 |
Vikingsword Staff
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: The Aussie Bush
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The item below was sold in 2011 by the respected auction company Hermann Historica (Auction 61, Lot no. 3216, May 2-3, 2011) for the relatively low price of 200 euros. It was listed as "Kleiner Kris der Moro."
While the hilt and scabbard are consistent with Moro, it obviously has a keris blade from the Indonesian archipelago. Perhaps our Keris Warung Kopi colleagues can help with the age and origin of this blade. I cannot recall seeing a similar example. Has anyone here seen another example of a keris in Moro dress? It seems that the bidders at the auction were not overly impressed by this ensemble, at least judging from what it sold for. Ian. |
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#2 |
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Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Minneapolis,MN
Posts: 336
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Wow. Just wow.
The real question is whether that was done ethnographically or or not? I don't suppose you have any measurements on this? Have fun, Leif |
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#3 |
Vikingsword Staff
Join Date: Dec 2004
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Rafngard:
Here is the description provided by Hermann Historica in May, 2011 catalog. Perhaps someone more fluent in German than I am could translate the description. Kleiner Kris der Moro,From this it appears that the overall length was 35.5 cm (14 inches), hence the listing as a Small Moro Kris. First half of the 20th C seems correct based on the scabbard style. The scabbard style looks Maguindanao or Maranao to me, so the attribution to the island of Mindanao also seems correct. Ian |
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#4 |
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Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Germany, Dortmund
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Hello Ian,
the blade look like a Bugis or Peninsula keris blade to my eyes. Shall I translate the description from Hermann Historica? Regards, Detlef |
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#5 | |
Vikingsword Staff
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Thanks Detlef. Yes, please do translate the description.
Quote:
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#6 |
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Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Germany, Dortmund
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Just see that Kai beats me by the translation. The remarks about this collection I can confirm!
Regards, Detlef |
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#7 | |
Keris forum moderator
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Nova Scotia
Posts: 7,100
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![]() Quote:
![]() I would certainly need to examine this more closely, but Kai might be on the right track considering the possibility that it is Moro made in the likeness of an Indo keris. |
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#8 | |
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Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Germany, Dortmund
Posts: 8,731
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![]() Quote:
![]() Regards, Detlef |
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#9 | |
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Join Date: Apr 2005
Posts: 3,252
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Hello Ian,
Quote:
![]() Translation: Small kris of the Moro peoples Mindanao, first half of the 20th century. Curved (i. e. with luk) pamor blade with scroll work (i. e. ricikan) at the base and white brass clamp. [comment: "Raseneisenerzklinge" is an idiosyncratic term of HH's "expert" which doesn't seem to imply more than local production, i. e. forging with visible layers of iron, i. e. pamor...] Hilt with white metal bands and copper wire, and carved ivory/bone pommel. Wooden scabbard with white metal bands. [Total] length 35.5 cm. [14 inches] Provenance: Freiherr von Hochstetter, Düsseldorf [Not sure how much this provenance helps: At least the items attributed to this private collection were above the average seen at these auctions which usually includes quite a bit of Karmadikan pieces. However, also some pieces from this collection seemed to be not antique and possibly cobbled together IMVHO.] This is one of those pieces which one would like to examine personally before deciding to acquire it. The blade didn't appeal to me that much and I decided not to take the risk of bidding from pics (as obviously did others, too). In the worst case, I missed out on an antique ivory pommel with genuine silver and suasa fittings... Note that the base of the blade includes pretty unusual ricikan: the gangya (at the gandik side) has those lines which are fairly rare in Indo keris while they are even emphasised with Moro kris. However, these don't look like Moro craftsmanship to me. Moreover, for the kembang kacang an unusually large opening seems to have cut. Thus, I'm not convinced that this is an Indo keris blade with localised fittings. This might rather be a Moro attempt to mimic an Indo keris blade? Regards, Kai Last edited by kai; 16th June 2015 at 12:57 AM. Reason: auction house rather than action house ;) |
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#10 |
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Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Germany
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""Raseneisenerzklinge" is an idiosyncratic term of HH's "expert" which doesn't seem to imply more than local production, i. e. forging with visible layers of iron, i. e. pamor."
--- Raseneisenerz is bog iron / Limonite (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bog_iron) or in german (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raseneisenstein). Regards, Roland Last edited by Roland_M; 15th June 2015 at 11:39 AM. |
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#11 | |
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Join Date: Apr 2005
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Hello Roland,
Quote:
There is no doubt that bog iron deposits were utilised, too. However, after the necessary "washing" of the iron during preparations for forging, it would become very tough to differentiate the actual origin of the iron, especially for quality blades with extensively washed iron. Considering the indiscriminate use of the term by HH (including Karmadikan pieces - cp. the catalogs), I highly doubt that there's any special expertise on iron ore origin at work... ![]() Regards, Kai |
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