Bugis keris

[Jean]

Thank you Paul. After further checking, the pamor pattern of your blade may be Tebbabunga (equivalent to Lar Gangsir in Java), but it is not very clear.
Regards

[Paul B.]

What happened to the kerisforum? It used to be a environment of kerislovers with a vivid atmosphere. Commited forumites with different background who joined a topic. So it was a joy and pleasures to read, learn and enjoy it. Now you often have to ask twice to trigger anybody to give an opinion. At present it are always the same guys who put energy in it.To bad.

[David]

Originally Posted by Paul B.

What happened to the kerisforum? It used to be a environment of kerislovers with a vivid atmosphere. Commited forumites with different background who joined a topic. So it was a joy and pleasures to read, learn and enjoy it. Now you often have to ask twice to trigger anybody to give an opinion. At present it are always the same guys who put energy in it.To bad.

Perhaps a valid criticism Paul, though i'm not sure exactly what triggered it for you exactly at this moment. I mean Jean did give you an answer, even if he was not too sure. Others may be having the same difficulty identifying this pamor. It is an unusual one and perhaps not executed to perfection which may make a positive ID more difficult. I believe Jean found information of the last pamor name he mentioned in the book Senjata Pusaka Bugis. Perhaps this would be a good book for you to acquire if you have a strong interest in Bugis keris. Jean posted some other examples of pamor Tebba Bunga in this thread.
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=18667
If you google pamor Tebba Bunga you will find other examples. I saw quite a few on Badik and it does bear some resemblance to yours.
Personally my own focus is more on Jawa/Bali/Madura/Sumatra. So i am not really much help when it comes to Bugis blades. I know Alan tends not to comment much on blades outside of that nexus of keris making as well.
I do believe you are correct that at least some old time regulars are not participating as much here as they once did. I know that there are at least a couple of Facebook pages that have drawn folks away, but frankly discussion on those pages rarely gets in depth and it is mostly show and tell and people trying to sell stuff.
I have personally not contributed anything here mostly because this is not my area of concentration and Jean seemed to have at least an idea of the answer to your question about pamor. Frankly i don't see that you have really asked any other questions about this keris. So i'm not sure what else you are looking for and surely you do realize that this forum will rarely, if ever, be able to answer all of your questions about any particular keris anyway. But if you would like more input i will add that beyond the more exotic pamor this seems like a fairly average Bugis blade to me, probably from the first half of the 20th century, maybe a little older. The over all form does seem fairly balanced as you noted, but i don't particularly care for the work on the various features, particularly the sloppy carving of the sogokan, which i find rather jarring and don't really quite understand. Possibly carving a sogokan was an afterthought on this keris.

[A. G. Maisey]

I'm pretty much on the same page as David, Paul, his comments echo what my own would be.

As for the overall paucity of action, I feel that there are probably several reasons for that, but if I needed to name just one it might be that everybody has a lot more on their mind at the moment than keris, and for that matter, other interests that might be classified as side interests.

Right now the world seems to entering a darker time, there are other, more pressing things to occupy our thoughts than our hobbies.

[Green]

i come to this forum just about every day religiously in the hope that there are new threads /posts or inputs on old posts.

Too bad that it has become rather empty lately. I do find this forum the only one that people do put effort to discuss honestly and seriously and my hat off to people like mr Maisey, David, Jean etc that i've benefited a lot in my keris knowledge from their comments on various keris matter.

[jagabuwana]

While it would be nice if this forum were more lively, I can understand why it isn't (anymore), for reasons mentioned by Alan and David.

The reality is that there really aren't that many Anglophone or English-speaking keris interested people.
And of that number I would say there are even less who like to, or have the knowledge to discuss and study the keris in the way that is often seen in this forum.
I think it's easy for us to underrate just how niche this interest is. It may not be as niche in the keris' home land, but we are an English-speaking forum.

There are also only so many keris in our possession that we can share or ask about. My collection is small, I don't add to it just for the sake of accumulating another keris, and sadly at the moment I find myself quite bereft of questions or contributions. There's plenty of contemplation, but this is not the forum for contemplation.

[Anthony G.]

According to a good friend from Sulawesi, it seems to be made of a variation of pamor Kurrisi.

[milandro]

Originally Posted by Green

Too bad that it has become rather empty lately...

Since this has been brought up a few times now in this thread (and it has been on my mind often during the short time that I have been a member) let me , please, take some time and space to discuss it (although it may be better to open a thread about it)

I come to the forum often for reference and information BUT very seldom see new stuff.

New discussions are often cut very short after they are opened and I often see new members who are just participating for a short while and then no longer post. As far as I can tell ( reading through the posts) this was true even before the pandemic and the war so I wouldn’t ascribe it on the things happening in the world.

Truth to be told , the fora ( I have a long term experience elsewhere) are all suffering a diminishing interest because of the fact that their population is getting older and there is little fresh blood....BUT...

I think it is necessary to have some honest looking into the mirror and ask oneself the question why so many members knock on the door, which means they are obviously interested and motivated( by the way becoming a member requires some effort and waiting), then they ONLY briefly participate and then they silently go away...

If anything, the things happening in the world should motivate people to seek refuge in places like this rather then deter them from taking part!

I see no shortage of collectors (even young) in the Netherlands ( certainly one place in the world which after Indonesia has one of the highest density of krises per person in the world) , most of whom are capable to express their thoughts and questions in English and I have met and know several of them in the short time that I’ve become a kris person(if you pass me this expression) but some have expressed mixed feelings about this forum. Some people have been positively feeling a lot of resistance and few even told me they didn’t particularly feel that their contribution was appreciated much or felt welcome at all.

Now, obviously it is not my place to say what the forum should or shouldn’t be or do but if I had a restaurant where only few people occasionally sit, nibble a little and then come by only few times they they then stay away and never return, you can certainly blame it on the patrons themselves BUT, it is a good idea to look at the menu and whether the patrons feel welcome to stay and linger on or not.