Molar hilt, sumatran keris for comments

[A. G. Maisey]

I do not necessarily dislike geraham hilts.

They can be either good or bad, crude or refined. It is almost impossible to find a finely worked Javanese planar geraham hilt, but Bugis and Palembang styles are often quite finely worked. A couple of years ago I was offered two Bugis ones, that were as good as anything I have seen in ivory, regretably they were far too expensive, so I did not buy them.

The pic is of a geraham hilt on an odd little weapon in the Musium Radya Pustaka in Solo, Jawa Tengah. I've coveted this hilt since the first time I saw it more than 30 years ago.

Incidentally, that is not a new, or even recent, blade.