Kris Junggayan Silver Gold Inlay Filigree

[CharlesS]

Originally Posted by Indianajones

And another great piece ruïned! It makes the good old untouched pieces more rare, but I FEEL for the pieces you ruine FOREVER.
(nomatter what your reply is)

I believe that we all have our own ideas about the practices and limitations of restorations, some more conservative than others.

Had Jose altered the piece in a way clearly not original to it, then I would agree it was too much and lacked the proper ethnographic vision. However, in this case Jose has only restored what was clearly there and long lost...no more, no less. What's more, he has done it with virtually the same material that the Moros would have used.

I wonder...suppose the original silver/alloy was intentionally melted or chiseled out of the kriss for use on something else...perhaps even as a barter commodity. Would that intentional damage to the kriss by its original(or somewhere down the line) owner not devalue it both aesthetically and as a piece of "original" art???...in that case Jose has done no more than "touch up" an original work of art to make its original appearance more clear to current viewers of the piece.

There are lots of Moro collectors, myself included, but I will tell you I don't know of ANY two collectors more "spiritually" attached to their collections than Battara/Jose and Spunjer/Ron. I think anyone that knows them and their passion will agree.

This makes me know that Jose's heart and his head were in the right place...personally, I commend him!