Ambon Keris for interest

[Larks]

I figure if anyone anywhere outside of Indonesia and Timor may be interested in seeing this Keris it will be on here.


I confess first up that I know next to nothing about the Keris but I purchased this example from a private residence in Ambon about 25 years ago when I sailed through there. This Keris, despite its condition, is quite special to me and it was pretty much responsible for kicking off my interest in collecting swords as I sailed around the world.

For me at the time it was not so much of a tourist memento as a unique and quite powerful symbol of the culture and history of the area. So after buying it I found myself searching out and finding swords as I sailed up through Asia, the Red Sea and into the Mediterranean and each sword that I collected carries a rather fabulous and interesting personal story as to how I found it and purchased it.

I was not as interested in the quality or value of the swords as I was in their uniqueness, the places I found them, the circumstances that lead me to find them, the characters that sold them, their local identity and the stories that I felt they could tell.

So for what it’s worth here she is, my Ambon Keris. The only two things that I think I know are from an Indonesian friend in Jakarta who I showed it to when I sailed through there: he told me the hilt (hulu?) is ivory, not bone as I’d first thought, and that the handle was collectible and quite valuable in Jakarta on its own, with many of the blades of Keris of the age having long rusted away and Indonesian collectors placing a higher importance on historic handles as collectables than westerners might.

I’d be interested if anyone here has an opinion on those comments and if anyone might be able to shed any more light on this Keris - any thoughts on age for example?:

Greg