My First Traditional Kris

[Robert]

Thanks to my lovely wife I now have this kris. We've been married for 40 years now and after years of her calling my collection a pile of rusty junk she surprises me with this and 5 other items for my birthday. I will post pictures of the other items in their own threads. All comments on this will be greatly appreciated, especially on the hilt material, origin and possible age. If any more pictures of a particular section of this are needed just let me know. Thanks in advance.

Robert

[Gavin Nugent]

And a nice one it is Robert!

I am not big in to Kris but this style rates as my favorite, the raw well aged ivory and cord bound grip I am always a fan of, they have an almost dark tribal Pre-Historic look a feel to them...oh to line the wall with such old warriors would indeed be nice.

Congrats and I hope your looking after your wife well.

Gav

[kino]

It's a very nice kris. Your wife has good taste.
Happy B'day......belated.

[Battara]

Looks like a nice Sulu piece to me with good ivory patina. You have a nice and intelligent wife! (like mine :D )

Looking forward to the other pieces. :)

[Robert]

Gav, Kino and Jose, Thank you all for your kind words. Yes, my wife is a definite keeper and I would not trade her for the world. I am still in shock over what she has done especially as she has NEVER shown any interest in my collection what so ever. The item in my other thread on the Odd Barong is another one of the items she surprised me with. That being said, would any one have an idea as to this pieces age?

Robert

[Battara]

Well I might say mid-19c based on the style and size of the pommel and the blade.

[Maurice]

Good old fighter, with great patina on the ivory pommel.
Surely a great birthdaypresent!

Congrats,
Maurice

[Lew]

Robert

That is a superb piece and an ivory pommel to boot doesn't get much better than this :D

[David]

I like it! :)

[kai]

Hello Robert,

Congrats, that's a really superb selection of interesting pieces! Seems like your wife is trying to extend your collection southwards into Moro regions... ;)

BTW, maybe you could convince your better half to offer a crash course on selecting ethnographic pieces for those partners of ours who are less experienced with selecting nice gifts. That would be a great community service! :rolleyes:

I'd like to see those blades etched!

Regards,
Kai

[mohd]

Beautiful Sundang!
Congrats to you Robert!

mohd

[Battara]

I'm with Kai, please etch the blade!

[Gavin Nugent]

I say leave the patina on the blade too.

[Maurice]

I say leave the patina on the blade too.
Yes Gav, I thought the same......leave the patina on the blade too....

[kai]

Of course, Robert has to decide what he wishes to do.

From the pics, I don't see a lot of genuine patina (apparently none from original use) that I'd consider worth keeping. As far as I can tell, the blade got cleaned/polished early after being collected and gained some rust/etc. from neglect later on. IMHO nothing to be proud of. ;)

I guestimate that there won't be any special laminations that would need to be shown; OTOH I'd love to examine the lamination patterns after an etch to glean more information on the crafting of this blade.

Regards,
Kai

[Robert]

I would like to thank everyone who has commented on this so far. As far as etching the blade goes, if there is a traditional way of doing it I will be more than happy to do it as soon as I can find the time. Here are the best pictures that I am able to take of the blade and a few of the scabbard. Thanks again.

Robert