Frey Collection Picit

[David]

Originally Posted by Jean

To me this nice kris looks like to date from early to mid 20th century, I agree that the pendok & pendokok are most probably from gilt silver and not gold (it makes a huge difference on the price), and the hilt is not from walrus ivory.
Regards

Jean, the description actually claims that the buntut is walrus ivory, not the hulu. And the hulu most certainly IS ivory of some sort, probably elephant. I would be seriously impressed if anyone here could accurately identify the type of ivory in that buntut from these photographs.
I really cannot speak further to gold issue. I just cannot tell from a photograph. I do know that the price it demanded seemed to accept it as solid gold and that Frey seems to present it as such. Since i was not the buyer this is of little concern to me though.
For me it is also simply not possible to determine the age of this keris based upon the photographs, though i do suspect the blade is older than 20th century.
Frankly gentlemen, i am surprised at the amount of nitpicking, but it's not mine so i certainly don't take it personally. Let's see what else we can find wrong with this beautiful keris. LOL!

[Jean]

David,
Sorry for the confusion and from the first & last pics especially the buntut may be made from walrus ivory indeed (marble appearance). Frey should be correct on this issue, otherwise he would not have mentioned it.
Something more wrong with this kris? The picit IMO unless it was a common feature of the Malay blades, which I don't know.
Regards

[David]

Originally Posted by Jean

Something more wrong with this kris? The picit IMO unless it was a common feature of the Malay blades, which I don't know.
Regards

Well again, i'm not sure i would use the word "wrong". I personally am not aware of picit being at all common in Malay blades. In fact i am not sure i have ever seen this feature in anything other than a Javanese blade. But that is a large part of what makes this blade intriguing to me.

[Battara]

I can clear some of this up. The "rainbow" look is not the photography but is real - actual patina. In person it is the same look to the metal.

[David]

Originally Posted by Battara

I can clear some of this up. The "rainbow" look is not the photography but is real - actual patina. In person it is the same look to the metal.

Thanks for the hands on report José. If i were the new owner i would probably have it tested, especially given the price the piece went for, but i doesn't make this keris any less attractive and intriguing for me.

[David]

I did a little research and tracked down the actual auction.
For what it's worth the auction house attests that it is all pure gold. I cannot verify their claim without the piece in hand, of course, but it does seem unlikely that an auction of this stature would lie about such an important component to potential bidding.
http://www.invaluable.com/auction-lo...ia*-AB640A98B5

[kai]

Hello David,

For what it's worth the auction house attests that it is all pure gold.

I have yet to know any auction house that guarantees any item descriptions. I guess they just went with Frey's collection notes without any scrutinizing.

Considering the patination on the front side, I also believe this is gilded silver; I'd also be extremely surprised if the selut were solid gold (usually these are fire-gilded at best). Why the wear is on the front side while the back side seems still intact is anybody's guess...

I agree that the real worth of any keris should be in the blade though.

Regards,
Kai