Balinese Kris on E-bay

[ariel]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3774040296

Any comments?
Should I be depressed because of missing it?

[nechesh]

Hey Ariel, weren't you just lamenting in another thread about all us keris maniacs? If you're not careful you may just become one of us! ;)
Did you miss something? The photos suck, of course, but this appears to be a fairly nice blade. It needs a good cleaning and restaining, but it has some nicely defined ricikan and a beautiful undulating gonjo (i've been wanting a keris with one of these for some time). I'd say it is late 19thC. The sheath looks like a nicely carved jamprahan form sarong. The hilt is a fairly low rent version of the rice diety form, poorly carved, nothing to write home about, and the mendak in recent cheap costume junk, but these parts are fairly easy to upgrade. I'd say it went for a reasonable price and if i had known about it i may very well have been in on the bidding.

[Rick]

Gotta love those out of focus pictures . :confused:

The wrongko appears to have a signifigant chip although its form is quite nice .
I think the real prize here is the blade possibly , if the blade maintains its 'concave diamond' cross section almost to the tip I would deem it more desirable .

But I can't tell that from the pictures .. :(

A 'handyman special' keris . :D

[ariel]

Nechesh,
Anyone is entitled to a bit of bitching! This is my constitutional right and I shall bitch about it as much as I want! :D
Truly, I know nothing about Krises but this one had something attractive even to an ignoramus that I am: I liked the blade. It was so beautifully proportioned and the lines were so graceful that I just was wanted to keep it in my hands.
Do you think Kris spirits tried to tell me something?

[capt.smash]

Ive got 1 similar to this on its way to me [thankfuly i paid less than this went for :D ]ill post some decent pics when it arives.what do you think of it?

[nechesh]

I like your blade as well Capt., though the dress is even more unfortunate. :) Would love to see better pics.

[nechesh]

Ariel, a constitutional biotch??? :D

[ariel]

My First Amendment...

[capt.smash]

Here are some slightly better pics of the blade.I think it might actualy have alittle bit of age to it as there are a few nicks and rust pits to it.It needs treating to bring out the pamor alittle more i recon what do you think?The dress is even more poor than the original pictures sugested and it is a poor fit in the scabbard.Any comments on where u think the blade came from and what style of dress it should originaly have had?due to the similarity in handle etc ..mabe this was sold by the same outfit?

[ronpakis]

definitly a balinese blade. and a nice one

[Battara]

Yes, like the blade even though the dress and everything else is recent.

[nechesh]

Hey Capt. Yes, definitely Bali, definitely nice. I'd say late 19thC. Could be early 20th, but they are not turning out anything like this in Madura. This is NOT a modern made blade. The dress is standard for cheap balinese "tourist" keris. I don't usually use that term, but in this case i think it is justified. I refer to those cut out "keris" with the fake pamors. Somebody got this really nice blade either without dress or in damaged condition and decided to slam it into this tacky wear. A shame really, but you do have the blade and that's what really counts. You could have new dress comissioned, but it may cost you as much as you paid for the keris. Still, i'd say this blade is deserving. The hilt that you have now is a cheap version of a classic Bali form which i believe represents a rice diety. There are a number of Balinese forms of dress that would look just fine with this keris.

[Battara]

That's not unusual, though, is it Nechesh? I mean, there are a lot of old keris blades with new, even "tourist" dress on them. A common practice I think.

[nechesh]

Hi Jose. Yep, i'd say it's pretty common. I've seen a bunch like that on eBay. One of the advantages to the practice is that often you can nab a pretty nice blade for a fairly reasonable price because people don't look beyond the touristy dress. ;)
Also sheathless ones like the one you made the hilt ring for can go really cheap. I'm having a sheath made for that right now. But i only paid $100 for a nice Bali keris with a fairly nice (nicer now :) ) hilt. I love a good fixer upper. :D