New kerises: need opinions

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by David

This probably has much to do with my reaction to this keris. That and the rather poor images which make it somewhat difficult to determine both the quality and actual material. There is a great deal of aged bone sheaths on the market these days meant to add both a sense of age and status to old keris. This does not seem a standard material for Minangkabau sheaths AFAIK.
I will say that from what i can see of the hilt, the little fella kinda grows on you.
The blade itself seems to have some age, but i would not consider it a "good" keris per se. It is certain worth some work to clean it up and remove the "crust". If this proves out be an all original ensemble as Detlef suggests then perhaps finding a pendokok for it would be worth the trouble, especially if the material is whalebone (a rarer find than buffalo), which i am not at all convinced it is yet. I would also like to see the fit of sheath to blade. Hopefully Ariel can provide us with better pics when the keris arrives.

Hello David,

the only keris sheaths are carved from bone, and here most of the time from whale bone, are from Sumatra, most of the time Minangkabau, not a very common material but there are examples. What we can see from the unsharp pictures are the hilt and as well the scabbard are well carved.
Regarding the blade I would say that it is from decent quality, I have seen a lot of more worse old blades like this one. IMHO are many from this small Minangkabau keris dress keris where the blades of poor quality. Agree with you that it would be good to see how good the blade fit inside the sheath.

Regards,

Detlef