Older kris with a nice blade

[kino]

A recent gain from a friend.
I was surprised by it's size. the blade is somewhat on the diminutive end of the scale. It has a beautiful pattern in my eyes. The imprints on both sides of the blade which resembles foliage with flowers was probably stamped on during the forging of the blade. It looks like teeth of a gear, closeup.
OAL 24.5", Blade 19.5", Width of the blade at mid-length of the blade is only 1". The blade is very slender.
Any opinions on it's age?
Enjoy the photos.

[Sajen]

Beautiful lamination! Remembers to pamor from indonesian keris. Is there a sheat with the kris?

[Battara]

W W! Beautiful blade! Seems to be truly an older blade. Great lamination and etching. You are also right in that the engraving/stamping work had to have been done during the forging process or at least when the blade was still heated to be soft enough to be deeply impressed by stamping tools. What a great find! Congrats! (grumble, grumble, envy, envy.. ).

[Nirghosa]

I need additional friends like yours!!

[t_c]

Beautiful blade! Yeah, nice friend you have there to pass that along!

Maybe the the stampings can help with age if you could figure out what sort of machine the stamps came from. The three circles: Is it one round stamp used three times or a "three barreled" part? The later might make it a bit more unique, as far as machine parts go. Old typewriter parts come to mind...

I can't say I've ever seen a PI blade with stampings before. Interesting work and nice piece!

[Tim Simmons]

It makes one wonder if there is any real significance to the so called eye lash mark seen on other Asian swords. These patterns being made up of an eye lash mark stamp. Was there a trade in decorative tool stamps? just as there is today.

[kino]

Remembers to pamor from indonesian keris. Is there a sheat with the kris?

Sajen, It does resemble Keris pamor. The scabbard is present but has damage to it. It's can be restored with some effort and time.

Battara, the kris came already polished and etched.

Someone had mentioned that a pocket watch gears could've been used to make the impressions, I highly doubt it, watch parts are very thin. However I have a Kampilan that has a watch gear for eyes.

[VVV]

Thanks for sharing this interesting kris.
In other Muslim areas this motif would be an eyelash, a symbol to avert the evil eye.
I haven't seen it in this combination before but 5 (in your eyes) is the corresponding number for this purpose.
Yours has very nice pamor-like laminations. Usually the ones of this size has twistcore, according
to this old thread with several reference small sized kris.
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=5834
My guess is late 18th C.

Michael

[Battara]

IMHO these aren't eye lashes but stylized flowers, even though the same type of tool is used for both.

[lionzden]

stunning blade

[ThePepperSkull]

Is the hilt (or the pommel more specifically) a new addition? It looks to be to be a replacement.

[Battara]

I agree wth the Pepperskull. The more I look at it the more this comes to mind.

[mross]

Very, very nice. The smith that made this was a master craftsman to manipulate the steel that way.

[kino]

Originally Posted by ThePepperSkull

Is the hilt (or the pommel more specifically) a new addition? It looks to be to be a replacement.

New?? If you mean the last 12 yrs or so.., then no, before that I don't know.

mross Very, very nice. The smith that made this was a master craftsman to manipulate the steel that way.

Makes me wonder how many blades forged the same way by the same smith are out there obscured by time, grime, lacquer......

[Dimasalang]

Nice!

[Nathaniel]

Beautiful. Thanks for sharing

[Nathaniel]

very interesting stamp marks/ decoration along the blade....it's in beautiful condition.

[ThePepperSkull]

Originally Posted by kino

New?? If you mean the last 12 yrs or so.., then no, before that I don't know.

I'd say within the past 40? Just a ballpark guess.

I say this because of four reasons:

1) the kakatua pommel seems to be quite large in proportion to the blade. Usually if this is the case, then it is in a junggayan kris/a kris with a more decorative pommel (perhaps covered in silver or swassa or made of ivory) from my observations.

2) The grain of wood does not seem to be burled or have a curly/unusual grain. It seems like a regular piece of wood to me. Very nice contrast, and still very well-executed, but it seems to me that if wood were used on a blade as fine as this (at the tme of making), it would be some type of burled or harder to obtain wood/material.

3) The carving on the side of the kakatua seems to match those of more recent manufature. namely how tall it is as it "bottoms out" if that makes any sense. (from the swirl at the top crest region to the beginning of the grip wrap seems longer, like I see on newer kris)

4) The finish on the pommel looks to be some sort of thicker laquer than I see on typically older pommels. Maybe some sort of modern shellac like we see on more contemporary moro swords.



Of course, these are all just personal assessments, so I could be wrong. Those features about the pommel just stood out to me. If it is a restoration, it was obviously done with care. Whoever restored it/replaced the pommel looks like they knew how well the blade was made and cared for. The blade is definitely an old piece.

In any case, it is still a DAMN fine specimen that I am very envious of. This is absolutely wonderful!


Can anyone estimate a date/region of manufacture for this particular blade? Sulu perhaps (just throwing that out there)?

[mross]

Originally Posted by kino

Makes me wonder how many blades forged the same way by the same smith are out there obscured by time, grime, lacquer......

It's a very good ponder-able. In theory a specific smith should be identifiable by his work. Something as unique as your blade would lend it's self very well to this. If another blade shows up very similar good chance same smith. Unfortunately I do not believe there is any written record to identify smiths’ by name

[VVV]

Originally Posted by Battara

IMHO these aren't eye lashes but stylized flowers, even though the same type of tool is used for both.

Here are page extracts from two classic works - Abbot, The Keys of Power and Westermarck, Pagan Survivals in Mohammedan Civilisation - on some traditional Muslim evil eye motifs...

Michael