Keris for identification

[A. G. Maisey]

David, I would prefer to reserve my opinion in respect of Sid's keris, there is nothing I wish to add to what is already very clear from what this thread contains.

Yes, the way in which the rondha has been executed in these three keris does vary very considerably, but there are multiple other differences as well in the work that has gone into these keris.

What Gustav has said about the variation in the characteristic workmanship of a single maker is true, I made a small number of keris and the way in which I cut the rondha in each of them is different, but in my case this was intentional, I made keris not to follow the profession of Pande Keris, but rather to better understand keris and how to look at and evaluate them.

Somebody who makes keris for a living has different objectives, if he wants his work to be valued he strives to make it recogniseable as his work. This objective can change if a piece of work is not turning out as he would like it to, in which case he will deliberately vary small details so that it is not instantly recogniseable as his own work.

Then we have the problem that some very clever pande keris will deliberately copy the work of other makers, this has been going on for as long as keris have been made, I believe.

In my opinion everything that we can see in the images presented in this thread is well worth taking note of.