Very unusual presentation kris/keris—Malay?

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by Ian

Yes, we can all make a mistake or two.

Let the one who is free from mistakes cast the first stone!

[Ian]

This is another kris from Oriental-Arms old site. The descripti0n provided is as follows:

A classical Moro Kris sword, with an old, probably 18 C. blade. 20 ½ inches long, straight, with two central fullers and forged from pattern welded steel. Later, probably late 19 C. wood handle bound with fibers and three white metal bands, and set with two light horn panels on the cockatoo shaped pommel. Two copper clamps (Baca-Baca). Later wood scabbard with painted black tip. Total length (in scabbard) 26 inches. Very good condition. Blade with few forging flaws and edge nicks.

There are some style differences from the original post above, but a lot of strong similarities too.

[kai]

Hello Ian,

This blade style is usually found on the Malay peninsula. This is corroborated for the second example by the scabbard foot which is a Melayu feature (peninsula or coastal Sumatra). I'd place this blade into the second half of the 19th c.(or a tad later); hilt has been reworked/restored.

The quality of these blades can vary quite a bit. The first blade exhibits pretty poor cold work and is most likely fairly young (despite the hole in the central fuller - probably bad judgement by the worker). In this case, I'm not even positive that it represents genuine native work (vs. Madura/etc.). Fittings are also modern.

Regards,
Kai