Found it in Maui

[A. G. Maisey]

Michel, you have raised a hypothetical situation that to the best of my knowledge never existed in a historical context, and cannot now exist.

Let us take a slightly different situation:- if somebody who is not Javanese were to make a Javanese blade according to a Javanese pattern, and using Javanese methods and materials, can anybody guess the origin of the maker?

I would suggest that that blade would be recognised as Javanese.

All blades from their various points of origin in both time and place display certain characteristics. If a person with sufficient talent, sufficient understanding, and sufficient access to resources wishes, those characteristics can be copied.

The major indicators are what determines the classification of a blade, so in the case of your hypothetical, if the Javanese maker lacked the necessary talent, understanding and access to resources, his blade would finish up as still a Javanese blade. If he had the necessary talent, understanding, and access to resources, his blade would finish as indistinguishable in all ways from a Balinese blade made by a Balinese maker.

In Bali, many blades that are regarded as "pusaka", are in fact of Javanese origin.

In Jawa, blades of the Banten classification, and the Blambangan classification , possess characteristics that can easily mislead to classification as a Balinese blade.

Further, blades of Surakarta classification, if removed from point of origin when still in new condition, are often very difficult, if not impossible, to differentiate from Balinese blades.

There is a general rule in keris description:- a complete keris is classified according to its dress, thus a complete keris in Surakarta or Jogjakarta or other Javanese dress, with a Bugis blade is described as a Javanese keris. It is only when the blade is considered separately from the dress that the blade will be classified as Bugis.