Interesting "wallhanger"

[A. G. Maisey]

I'd be inclined to call these things "keris", David, for the simple reason that today they fulfill the function of the keris as an item of formal dress.

Certainly others would disagree with me and have them as "keris-like objects", but to my mind this is a little bit unrealistic. Fact of the matter is that no matter how rich or how poor you are, once in while you need to get dressed up in formal gear, and for that, you need a keris. If you want to own the keris rather than borrow or rent it, you buy what you can afford.

Maybe 100 years ago, even 30 years ago, tourists did buy sharp pointy things to take home with them, but this is a very rare occurrence these days. I know dealers in Central Jawa who have not sold any type of keris or sword or dagger to any tourists in the last three years. In Bali it is very, very difficult to even find keris now.

Tourist or souvenir keris? Forget it.

Dress keris for local consumption? Yes, ongoing trade.

The things in this thread are keris, no doubt about it, but not particularly desirable ones from the point of view of a collector of keris.