Metal wrapped javanese hilt

[A. G. Maisey]

To my knowledge Banyumas was not renowned for silver-work, nor for any other metal work, however old Banyumas pendoks do show a particular type of engraving that is very similar to that which can be seen on this hilt. I've seen the occasional old Jogja hilt with similar work too, but I have never seen it on old Surakarta items, nor on items that were recognised as coming from other areas.

Quite frankly, if this hilt were in my possession I would not give more than two minutes thought to it.

It is an old metal covered hilt in a Central Javanese style.

To me, that would be the end of the story.

To go further is simply too difficult and far too full of hypotheticals to be of any worth at all.

In respect of the form of this hilt, in a broad sense it is undeniably Surakarta, however this form has been copied in other areas --- usually badly --- and a lot of experience is needed to take a good guess at where a less than well executed one of these hilts might have actually been made.

The origin of this specific form of the planar hilt dates back to the partition of Jawa, however, the origins of the planar hilt style are lost in time, and planar hilts clearly existed even before the implosion of Majapahit, not only for keris, but for other weapons and tools as well.It is simply a very practical shape for a handle.