An Unfortunate Fate of a Good (?) Keris

rasdan · 26th January 2005, 07:19 AM

Hi guys,

Thanks for the advice and support. I dont think i can/will sell the pusaka.

It is an honour given to me to take care of it regardless of the condition. I think i'll give it a new dress and keep it in my room. Actually i was given quite a number of assorted weapons, mostly javaneese, but i left them in my in law's house in johore. I only take 6 back to KL. The blade conditons of these pusakas mostly are poor and their dresses are inappropriate. Its quite a headache too to figure out how I should restore them. But its worth it, i think.

Alam Shah · 26th January 2005, 08:00 AM

If you're around singapore, maybe you can drop by and we can chat.
Do you know about Malay Art Gallery. (Owner is one of our forumite Adni Aljunied.)

Maybe you can bring your piece there. I sure Adni can help.
BTW, the Upacara Suro, that I'm talking about will be held on the 12/02/05
and 13/02/05 at the Malay Heritage Centre, Singapore.

You can bring down your kerises to be cleansed, on the day.
There is a small token sum (fee) for each keris.
There will also be a lot of other activites throughout the 2 days.
For illustration, you can visit Paul's Keris Page...

rahman · 26th January 2005, 08:57 AM

This brings back memories ... I had to clean my late father's keris, with about 25 years of rust and neglect. Fortunately, there was little damage but it took me 3 days and 3 nights of careful cleaning.

Then there was an old Palembang piece .. also took a couple of days. At the end, you gain a sense of satisfaction when you look at the before and after pix.

See if you can repair the sheath. The sampir looks like kemuning. It may well be a Malay keris, but if it's Bugis it would be very old since the Bugis used to control Johor Lama.

mykeris · 26th January 2005, 09:35 AM

Very good keris pusaka. Worth keeping.

John · 26th January 2005, 10:01 AM

Rasdan, thanks for sharing a probable pusaka keris here. I know many others would not do so for the belief that the keris will lose it's "power" (takut isi-nya pandai hilang atau terbang?

) by showing off to the public. I know of someone who has a keris as well as it's sarong much more miserable looking than yours but has just left things as he has received them and reveres it more highly perhaps than I do with my favourite keris. I guess it's up to each individual in accordance with whatever dogma one believes in...

But I love forumites who enjoy sharing...

DAHenkel · 26th January 2005, 12:30 PM

Shame about the condition but it has a nice story and as it would not do much good to restore or re-dress it, its so far gone, I would recommend that you leave it be. Restoring or re-dressing it will not make it look nice anyway.

The piece is not Bugis per-se though. It is a native keris in a style typical of Johor-Riau and the Selat Melaka. The Bugis patrimony is there certainly, given the influence of the Bugis in this area - but it is definitely not from Sulawesi. No way to tell precisely where it came from but certainly from around these parts. The pamor is one of the rarer types and worth keeping as an example if nothing else.

Henk · 26th January 2005, 09:10 PM

I personally would take the effort to clean the blade and bring back the pamor again and re-dress this keris. It is a gift from a relative and in my opinion a very old blade. And it is not unusual to give an old blade a new dress because the old one is gone. I think this fellow deserves a new dress and it will be a handsome fellow if it is done properly.

26th January 2005, 07:19 AM	#1
rasdan Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Kuala Lumpur Posts: 369	Hi guys, Thanks for the advice and support. I dont think i can/will sell the pusaka. It is an honour given to me to take care of it regardless of the condition. I think i'll give it a new dress and keep it in my room. Actually i was given quite a number of assorted weapons, mostly javaneese, but i left them in my in law's house in johore. I only take 6 back to KL. The blade conditons of these pusakas mostly are poor and their dresses are inappropriate. Its quite a headache too to figure out how I should restore them. But its worth it, i think.

26th January 2005, 08:00 AM	#2
Alam Shah Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Singapore Posts: 1,248	If you're around singapore, maybe you can drop by and we can chat. Do you know about Malay Art Gallery. (Owner is one of our forumite Adni Aljunied.) Maybe you can bring your piece there. I sure Adni can help. BTW, the Upacara Suro, that I'm talking about will be held on the 12/02/05 and 13/02/05 at the Malay Heritage Centre, Singapore. You can bring down your kerises to be cleansed, on the day. There is a small token sum (fee) for each keris. There will also be a lot of other activites throughout the 2 days. For illustration, you can visit Paul's Keris Page...

26th January 2005, 08:57 AM	#3
rahman Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Singapore Posts: 84	This brings back memories ... I had to clean my late father's keris, with about 25 years of rust and neglect. Fortunately, there was little damage but it took me 3 days and 3 nights of careful cleaning. Then there was an old Palembang piece .. also took a couple of days. At the end, you gain a sense of satisfaction when you look at the before and after pix. See if you can repair the sheath. The sampir looks like kemuning. It may well be a Malay keris, but if it's Bugis it would be very old since the Bugis used to control Johor Lama.

26th January 2005, 09:35 AM	#4
mykeris Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 278	Very good keris pusaka. Worth keeping.

26th January 2005, 10:01 AM	#5
John Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Land below the wind Posts: 135	Rasdan, thanks for sharing a probable pusaka keris here. I know many others would not do so for the belief that the keris will lose it's "power" (takut isi-nya pandai hilang atau terbang? ) by showing off to the public. I know of someone who has a keris as well as it's sarong much more miserable looking than yours but has just left things as he has received them and reveres it more highly perhaps than I do with my favourite keris. I guess it's up to each individual in accordance with whatever dogma one believes in... But I love forumites who enjoy sharing...

26th January 2005, 12:30 PM	#6
DAHenkel Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 125	Shame about the condition but it has a nice story and as it would not do much good to restore or re-dress it, its so far gone, I would recommend that you leave it be. Restoring or re-dressing it will not make it look nice anyway. The piece is not Bugis per-se though. It is a native keris in a style typical of Johor-Riau and the Selat Melaka. The Bugis patrimony is there certainly, given the influence of the Bugis in this area - but it is definitely not from Sulawesi. No way to tell precisely where it came from but certainly from around these parts. The pamor is one of the rarer types and worth keeping as an example if nothing else.

26th January 2005, 09:10 PM	#7
Henk Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 1,209	I personally would take the effort to clean the blade and bring back the pamor again and re-dress this keris. It is a gift from a relative and in my opinion a very old blade. And it is not unusual to give an old blade a new dress because the old one is gone. I think this fellow deserves a new dress and it will be a handsome fellow if it is done properly.