Ivory Hulu Tajong

[mariusgmioc]

Originally Posted by GIO

Welcome to the Forum, Kayoba84 !
It is seldom possible to give an educated guess from a photo, but I am afraid Marius and David are right. All pieces of this keris are stilistically correct, and seems to be quite new. The material of the perfectly srhaped hilt does not SEEM ivory, but plastic. To be sure, try with a hot needle.

The hot needle test does not work on cetain ivory immitations (bakelite?). I tried it myself on a plastic ivory immitation and it behaved exactly like ivory: was not affected by the hot needle at all.

So, in the end, I believe the best test remains a trained eye... and touch.

Try to look for specific signs of ivory: Schreger lines, minuscule cracks, minute variations of colouring, etc. Remember that ivory is a natural material and it is not perfectly homogeneous. Elephant ivory has also a specific translucence when highly polished (but good plastics also have it).

I suggest you remove the hilt and examine the pesi hole. It is there, inside the hole, where you may try the hot needle test.

[Jean]

Originally Posted by mariusgmioc

The hot needle test does not work on cetain ivory immitations (bakelite?). I tried it myself on a plastic ivory immitation and it behaved exactly like ivory: was not affected by the hot needle at all.

So, in the end, I believe the best test remains a trained eye... and touch.

If like myself you do not hesitate to take some controlled risks with your krisses, gently drill or grind the peksi hole and smell it...
Regards

[mariusgmioc]

Originally Posted by Jean

If like myself you do not hesitate to take some controlled risks with your krisses, gently drill or grind the peksi hole and smell it...
Regards

Exactly! Even mild polishing of ivory (with 7000 grit) will give away the specific "dentist" smell.

[David]

While i do understand why someone might suspect this hilt is resin based upon the photos i personally would never make such a judgement given the evidence available. By that i mean that these photos are not good enough to make any definitive judgments. Like Rick i also suspected that Kayoba was alluding to Nik Rashideen as the possible carver. If that is so it sounds like he has some reason to believe so. I would love to hear how he came by this keris so that perhaps these questions can be answered with more than these inadequate photographs.

[kayoba84]

Originally Posted by David

While i do understand why someone might suspect this hilt is resin based upon the photos i personally would never make such a judgement given the evidence available. By that i mean that these photos are not good enough to make any definitive judgments. Like Rick i also suspected that Kayoba was alluding to Nik Rashideen as the possible carver. If that is so it sounds like he has some reason to believe so. I would love to hear how he came by this keris so that perhaps these questions can be answered with more than these inadequate photographs.

Good day guys. Sorry for the late response, was away for the weekend. Rick and David both guessed correctly. My Name is Nik Aziz and the carver was Nik Rashidin, my late uncle.

As mentioned, I am an amateur collector, and i have in my possession a few pieces from his old collection, as well as a few new hilts and sapirs for my old blades crafted by his brother, Rashidee or Abe Dee as he is known amongst the older generation collectors.

Yes, the hilt is ivory, from my late uncle's old ivory stock. Will post pics of few othe pieces from my collection, and will try to post betterr pics from the piece I posted previously.

[Dayaktribe]

Nice looking Tajong with very nice carving.