blade identification

[A. G. Maisey]

Green, I would be reluctant to make any recommendations on dress for this keris, the main reason being that my knowledge of the finer details of keris dress outside of the core culture is quite deficient.

This deficiency is not only due to my own interests, but also to the seemingly very great lack of consistency in identifying geographic point of origin of dress forms once we move away from The Land of Jawa.

Blades did travel all around SE Asia, so did good quality dress fittings, and once we move away from areas under the direct influence of traditional ruling entities, it seems that people had no hesitation about combining the separate parts of a complete keris in accord with their own ideas of suitability.

Then we have the dealers & collectors who combine on the basis of personal necessity or taste.

However, that said, I personally like the dress that this keris is in right now, and I have seen & handled numerous keris that have this hilt style paired to this scabbard style, the pendokok looks a bit out of place, I think, but if this keris were to be in my possession maybe that is the only thing I'd change.

To my way of thinking the only thing that really needs to be done is to fit the blade properly, and that is usually a minor job, but one requiring care & patience.