East Java keris for comment

[Sajen]

And here a East Javanese keris which found its way in the last time to my collection.

[Sajen]

Is the keris so bad that nobody wants to give a comment?
I've bought it mainly for the hilt, the atasan was broken and I've repaired it and the blade has received a new warangan and I have added a mendak.
I've done this after I've noticed that the wrongko was made for this blade so I have decided to keep the keris as a complete ensemble.

[David]

Originally Posted by Sajen

Is the keris so bad that nobody wants to give a comment?
I've bought it mainly for the hilt, the atasan was broken and I've repaired it and the blade has received a new warangan and I have added a mendak.
I've done this after I've noticed that the wrongko was made for this blade so I have decided to keep the keris as a complete ensemble.

Actually i quite like this keris. I like the pamor, which seems to be wengkon with another pamor i am unsure of. Someone here should know though.
The pelet on the wrongko is also nice, which is probably why this keris was refitted for it.
This hilt form is one i have yet to collect. Seems like a fairly good example of the form.
What is the mendak made of, copper, or possibly suasa?

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by David

Actually i quite like this keris. I like the pamor, which seems to be wengkon with another pamor i am unsure of. Someone here should know though.
The pelet on the wrongko is also nice, which is probably why this keris was refitted for it.
This hilt form is one i have yet to collect. Seems like a fairly good example of the form.
What is the mendak made of, copper, or possibly suasa?

Hello David,

Yes, it's a wengkon pamor but like you I can't name the inner pamor. I have a fondness for pelet wrongkos and I am glad that the restoration of the atasan is coming out quite good. And like said, the hilt was the main reason that I have acquired the neglected keris. The mendak seems to be from brass or copper and was once silver plated I guess and coming from my stock.

Regards,
Detlef

[David]

Originally Posted by Sajen

The mendak seems to be from brass or copper and was once silver plated I guess and coming from my stock.

The color definitely makes it look more copper than brass. I have a selut of one of my collection that is copper that was once silver plated so this seems very likely.

[A. G. Maisey]

I'd give that inner pamor as ngulit semangko, so: ngulit semangko wengkon

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

I'd give that inner pamor as ngulit semangko, so: ngulit semangko wengkon

Thank you Alan!

[David]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

I'd give that inner pamor as ngulit semangko, so: ngulit semangko wengkon

Thanks Alan. I had considered that, but the way it presents, especially near the base, was a little confusing.

[A. G. Maisey]

Wos wutah & ngulit/kulit semangka are both simple random pamors.

WW can have many layers of contrasting material, and during the process of making there can be surface manipulation.

NS has far fewer layers of pamor, and there is no surface manipulation.

The end result for WW can be a tightly packed, random pattern.

The end result for NS has far fewer layers of contrasting material, the naturally occurring indentations during forging result in exposure of contrasting material when the cold work is done.

So, with these simple, random pamors you don't really have a lot of choices, if in doubt you just run through your possibles and eliminate one by one, if you've seen a lot of NS examples, or WW examples one glance is normally sufficient.