Old Bali keris

[David]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

Comments have been made regarding the gems and gold that could be found in Balinese uwer.

I'm sorry Alan, but i don't see a single mention of gold uwers until you brought it up yourself in this post. When i mentioned "precious metals and jewels" i was really thinking more of silver, a precious metal i have seen much more often on Balinese uwers. I think most of us are aware that pastes, glass and non-precious metals are also commonly used even on high end keris in Bali. My thought was just a passing one that selling it off for a more physical need might be one reason a uwer might go missing as well as simply being worn out and not being replaced.
I still think that these bebondalan hilts call for a uwer to visually complete the ensemble, but i am sure i am placing a great deal of my own personal preference on that.
Frankly i completely missed the fact that the atasan is from burled wood and can see the conflict to a certain extent. Since this seems so out of place to you Alan are you suggesting that it was replaced by a non-Balinese person?

"BTW I think that it was and still is a well-established practice to change hilts by a keris."

Absolutely Detlef, no doubt about that. My take on that though is that this practice is well established within the Balinese culture. As an outside Western collector i am less inclined to make such changes. I will admit that i did change a hilt on one piece in my collection, a decent old Bali blade that came in what i have come to refer to as "dance dress". The hilt was of very poorly carved figurative one of the type we most often see on "tourist" keris and i thought the keris deserved better.