6 kerises I just bought from an inherited collection

A. G. Maisey · 25th August 2021, 10:02 PM

The sajen is recent, but more likely to be Javanese than Sumenep.

The Jogja keris blade is recent, but it appears to be a pretty decent keris, definitely Sumenep, Madura. The dress is older. This combination of older dress with young blade is just as common as older blade with younger dress.

I have a feeling that at least the Jogja keris might have come from me.

The pelet markings of Timoho do not always penetrate the wood, in fact when a Timoho atasan is re-finished the m'ranggi needs to be careful not to polish out the dark patches. But with a kendit it is often the case that the dark belt will penetrate.

David · 25th August 2021, 10:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

The pelet markings of Timoho do not always penetrate the wood, in fact when a Timoho atasan is re-finished the m'ranggi needs to be careful not to polish out the dark patches. But with a kendit it is often the case that the dark belt will penetrate.

Thanks for this additional info Alan. Though one can not be sure from photos, i suspect this one is true pelet. When i enlarge it on my screen it seem fairly sincere.

A. G. Maisey · 26th August 2021, 01:36 AM

It sometimes gets pretty difficult to tell the difference David.

There was one really very high quality, old, Balinese keris that I had --- "old", it had been in Australia for over 100 years --- that I decided to give a bit of a facelift to, and when I got to the polishing, and it was only very light, cosmetic polishing, more than half of the dark grained wood was found to be false.

This Jogja atasan looks like the real thing to me, but the bare facts are that even if it is not, it is old, and it was perfectly satisfactory to the person who originally had it made.

Sometimes the expectations and standards of collectors who are outside the originating society do not align with the standards and expectations of the people who live in that originating society.

One well known example of this is the expectation of Western World collectors that all stones used in keris ornamentation should be "natural" stones. In fact, as most experienced collectors know, it is the visual effect that is important, not whether the "stones" are natural or not.

I've got several extremely high quality Balinese keris hilts, even though the hilts might be made of silver, or silver gilt, or even 22k gold, some of the "stones" in all of those hilts, are pastes, ie glass.

Ganapati · 26th August 2021, 01:56 AM

keris

26th August 2021, 01:56 AM	#4
Ganapati Member Join Date: Jul 2021 Posts: 36	more keris Attached Images

25th August 2021, 10:02 PM	#1
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 7,015	The sajen is recent, but more likely to be Javanese than Sumenep. The Jogja keris blade is recent, but it appears to be a pretty decent keris, definitely Sumenep, Madura. The dress is older. This combination of older dress with young blade is just as common as older blade with younger dress. I have a feeling that at least the Jogja keris might have come from me. The pelet markings of Timoho do not always penetrate the wood, in fact when a Timoho atasan is re-finished the m'ranggi needs to be careful not to polish out the dark patches. But with a kendit it is often the case that the dark belt will penetrate.

26th August 2021, 01:36 AM	#3
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 7,015	It sometimes gets pretty difficult to tell the difference David. There was one really very high quality, old, Balinese keris that I had --- "old", it had been in Australia for over 100 years --- that I decided to give a bit of a facelift to, and when I got to the polishing, and it was only very light, cosmetic polishing, more than half of the dark grained wood was found to be false. This Jogja atasan looks like the real thing to me, but the bare facts are that even if it is not, it is old, and it was perfectly satisfactory to the person who originally had it made. Sometimes the expectations and standards of collectors who are outside the originating society do not align with the standards and expectations of the people who live in that originating society. One well known example of this is the expectation of Western World collectors that all stones used in keris ornamentation should be "natural" stones. In fact, as most experienced collectors know, it is the visual effect that is important, not whether the "stones" are natural or not. I've got several extremely high quality Balinese keris hilts, even though the hilts might be made of silver, or silver gilt, or even 22k gold, some of the "stones" in all of those hilts, are pastes, ie glass.