I'm sorry. The pix attachment seems to get haywire a little bit but I've already arrange it in order during the posting process... :shrug:

It is basically three hilts, with hilt # (b) supposedly closed up on the tiny dots on the TIZ...

This discussion has taken an interesting tangent...

I'm no expert by any means but I did want to raise one other alternate theory. I have seen unworked "gigi" in Kelantan and Pattani and it doesn't resemble at all the hippo ivory I've seen. Rather it was represented to me as walrus tusk (gigi singa laut). Based on this experience I've always believed that gigi = walrus ivory.


Comparatively, you see a lot of "gigi" in Pattani, Kelantan and Terengganu. There must have been a reliable and fairly abundant source, but the Malay world's ties with tropical Africa were pretty distant. That's not to say that some hippo ivory didn't make it there but it is very rare IMO, having as it must to travel through the traditional trading route along the African and Iranian coast, through India and then only making the jump to Sumatra, Kedah then overland (or later, through Singapore). I've only seen one hilt in Kelantan that I'm fairly confident is hippo...this is based on comparison with photos of Persian khanjar hilts I've seen.

However with the walrus hypothesis you may have a source for the material. Its been reported that in the 18th and 19th centuries, American whalers sometimes wintered by sailing a loop down into the S. China Sea, following the coast of Vietnam and the Malay Peninsula before turning back east along the N. Borneo coast. They brought with them mostly whale bone and hippo ivory to trade for supplies and probably some exotics to bring home (some to the Peabody Essex apparently ;) ) . Popular tradition in Kelantan is that the gigi was bought from American sailors.

Anyway, perhaps someone with more expertise on the material side can do some digging and see if they can find comparisons to walrus ivory?

Also, as an aside...another sea mammal here in Southeast Asia worth looking at is the dugong or sea cow. I was told by the carvers though that dugong ivory is too small to make proper "hulu gigi". Also, dugong are very rare, shy creatures which doesn't jibe with the huge supply needed to make all those gigi hilts. I've seen some badik hilts that were said to be dugong though.

Hello Dave,

You don't happen to have a pic of those unworked tusks, have you?


This contrasts with my experience: I see quite a few Malay and Sumatran keris hilts made from what I and Detlef (and possibly also Thor ;) ) would tentatively assign to being of hippo origin while walrus seems to be quite rare; in Ottoman, Persian and Indian hilts walrus is much more common.

Walrus tusks have a prominent inner core that exhibits a distinct mottled pattern upon staining or developing patina.


I assume you mean whale and walrus (rather than hippo)?

Are spermwhale tooth also mentioned in those accounts? While these are usually too small for carving the fairly large N Malay keris hilts, they may be the main source for those pieces that are locally identified as dugong.

Regards,
Kai

Yeah I still remember back in the 90s where a fisherman from Johore accidentally caught a dugong and the news went national. It got so many mass media coverage and many people came down to see it by themselves. There were also a struggle between the wildlife bodies and the founder on the right of keeping this very endangered mammal, before it sadly die...

Of course the poor dugong mentioned above was rather small, but perhaps the dugongs / sea cows of those days were fairly big as to provide enough sources for those massive pekaka hilts?

It happen to the tigers and lions too, whereas now you could hardly see them raised up as big a size as their predecessors...

Hello Moshah,

No, a hulu pekaka from dugong is just not possible - only small hilts could be made from it and I'd really love to see a well-documented example!

Have a look at this recent thread and another one discussing dugong.

Regards,
Kai

Hi Mosha,

Wow, thanks for the extra pictures! My estimate in all three cases is hippopotamus - again due to the presence of both these concentric laminations as well as the angular dots. - In no. 2 of the interstitial cavity is even visible (still there?) - cool! :) The hilts are very beautiful - if you ever think of selling no. 1 - let me know. ;)

Sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) teeth don't have a central cavity like a TIZ but do have concentric laminations. These are formed tighter together than those of hippo however, and the ivory itself is very hard and dense. I enclose a couple of pictures I've taken from the collection of Copenhagen Zoological Museum. The first is of an average sperm whale tooth: about 12-15 cm long and 100 - 150 g. Notice that the overall shape would fit quite well with some keris hilts, although I've never had a confirmed specimen in hand myself. As I recently showed in a thread on Sikin panjang the teeth can grow much bigger: http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showpo...0&postcount=15

The second picture is of a sperm whale tooth split longitudinally and then treated with acid, so as to better display the laminations. Notice how little space the pulp cavity actually takes up. This is where the nerves and vascular system connects with the tooth.

Note also, that many other whales have teeth. Most of them are however, in spite of the whales themselves growing rather large, only a couple of cm., but there are other species like the killer whale Orcinus orca, which also produce teeth of a significant size.

I've found this article which describes the presence of 29(!) different species of whales in Indonesian waters: http://www.repository.naturalis.nl/document/149116

The six species from Balaenopteridae are irrelevant to us, as they grow baleen and not teeth. Of the other mentioned species, I know only that the killer- and sperm whales grow teeth so large, that they could be considered useful in our context - the rest I am unsure about. Would be very interesting to find out.

Interestingly the article also describes the presence of whaling in Indonesian history as well as the contemporary level of hunting that has been performed on the species. It mentions that 612 sperm whales where taken from 1959 - 1994 from Lembata Island only - so the source for sperm whale ivory certainly seems to have been there.

Regarding walrus tusks, please see my next reply below.


Best wishes, - Thor

Hi DAHenkel,

I completely share your skepticism regarding the use of hippopotamus ivory in SEA, especially considering how relatively common they seem to be among ivory hilts. I have no idea... I am just relating to the morphology of the ivory itself and given the characteristics displayed, there are just not really any local options. I too find it absolutely mind-boggling that this trade wouldn't have been described in the literature somewhere.

Regarding walrus tusk as a possible source, it is true when kai speaks about the characteristics of the inner core composed of osteodentine. It looks a bit like boiled rice. However, walrus tusks on old bulls grow really large and the diameter huge. -I've seen ones where the thickness of the layers surrounding the core was easily 5 - 7 cm. Also, the core does not extend to the tip. If walrus tusk is carved in such a way that the piece contains no core, we lose this identifying character.

Please see attachment for the standard walrus tusk cross-section photo.

The layers around the core consists mainly of dentine and a - sometimes rather thick - surrounding layer of cementum. Because of the way they are deposited, these can show a laminar structure in cross section, similar to that of the hippo. With age, these layers will tend to crack lengthwise down the tusk and radially in cross-section (as seen in the photo) I've sometimes, although on very few occasions, seen these cracks overgrow again and form small inclusions along them giving the appearance of "dots in a row". However, because of the structure of the walrus tusk, these dots will lie on a straight line as opposed to in an angle and they will appear perpendicular to the concentric laminations, as opposed to wedged in between them, as is apparent in Mosha's hilts above.

I am not disregarding walrus as a possible source for keris hilts - compared to most of you guys I've seen very few hilts in my life. I just don't believe it is the source material in the examples presented above.



All the best, - Thor

Agree with Kai and Thor, to my opinion the shown keris hilts are from hippo ivory.

Walrus ivory is like Kai described, here three pictures from walrus ivory taken from other threads. I have seen only very few keris hilts worked from walrus ivory.

Regards,

Detlef

Dear Thor,

Yup the cavity is still there in hilt # 2. Previously I have tried to foolishly drop the superglue in it, just for precaution, until it pools in the cavity and dried. I think I've resolves the issue but after a week the residues gone and the cavity is back!

Enclosed were extra pix for hilt # 1. The edges of this particular hilt tend to be quite transparent a bit (see the fin of the pekaka on hilt 1 (d) example & the nose on hilt 1 (a) I've posted beforehand.), unlike any other gigi hilt I have had. Do you have any theory for that?

Regards,
Moshah

Thanks for the pix, Detlef.

BTW, do you have the suspected walrus ivory keris hilt's pix? Did it bear resemblances as the material of those hilts you've just posted?

Thanks.
Moshah

Thanks for the link, Kai.

BTW attached were extra pix of hilt # 3, the full built and close up.

I don't know what happen but it looks like he's having a bad measles there
:) - something I haven't see on my other gigi hilts. Perhaps a different kind of tusk / ivory, as I don't think this measle-thingy can be called patinated, isn't it?

Regards,
Moshah

Hi Mosha,

I'm not sure, but would think it could be because the nose is carved from the outer layer of cementum It also makes sense as it seems to be the most extreme part of the little guy. The transparency of the nose is what makes him so cute! :)

The "mis"-colored one in the bottom pic is the same material as the others, IMO. Sometimes ivory just ages more beautifully than in other cases. It's the same if you look at the walrus hilts above - some become golden and lustrous with time while others become grey and 'dirty' looking. I guess it depends on what kind of life the material has had and which kind of environment it's been stored in.
For this reason I in some cases personally find pieces of antler or bone more attractive than some pieces of ivory. I really love a warm and golden color and the aesthetic expression is more important to me in a piece, than the type of material.

I've found a new pekaka hilt in walrus ivory for you, but the photo is from a dealers page, so I'll send you the link in a pm.

We're not allowed to publically post pictures of stuff for sale, even if we don't reveal the source of the photo ...right?


Take care, - Thor

I think a friend of mine has a bugis hilt made from walrus ivory, I will look if he can send me a picture from this hilt. And yes, it look very similar to the posted hilts from this material.

I think I know one example from this material, a small jawa deman from Sumatra. Will look if i can manage to post a picture.

Regards,

Detlef

Thanks, Detlef, that would be great to see both hilts here!

Regards,
Kai

Hello Thor,

Yup, stuff for sale is a no-no...

Regards,
Kai

Thanks for the extra pics, Moshah!

I'd love to examine #3 in person: I also believe it is hippo but I can't ascertain from the pics wether the mottled appearance is from uneven staining/corrosion/patina or due to some other cause.

From the pics, the tip of the beak almost looks like a repair while the rest of the TIZ is obviously fine despite the unusual choice of placing it that close to the edge of the piece - looks like the carver was hoping to avoid including it but ran out of material...

Regards,
Kai

You're most welcome when you are around here! Surely we can discuss more about these hilts and many other things... :)


That was a spot-on; it is indeed a repair. The tip was an ivory piece glued to the beak.

Since this material was dearly prized back then, I believe the carver's intention was to make the most from the chunk of material he got. Rightfully they were skilled artisan as well, as they wouldn't rush the process for $$$, unlike these days.

Regards,
Moshah

Here the pictures of the Bugis hilt as well a free cross-section through a walrus tooth.

And here the picture from the dugong ivory hilt. Carved from a tusk those who can reach a length from 20 until 25 cm. The ivory look similar like elephant ivory but have a concentric structure and by this you can recognize dugong ivory.

Regards,

Detlef

Thanks, Detlef - a really nice example!

Regards,
Kai

Thanks a lot, Detlef!

I'm not completely convinced of the identification though: a concentric structure per se doesn't seem to be enough to narrow down on dugong IMVHO; these can be found in ivory of different origin (including spermwhale and relatives). However, the somewhat angular core as well as the longish inner line may be a better character allowing a positive identification.

Thor, have you some pics of cross-sections from dugong tusks?

Regards,
Kai

Thanks, Moshah! I do indeed hope that we'll be able to meet and mull over our collections sometime in the future...

Regards,
Kai

Hi kai,

No, unfortunately I haven't been able to photograph any cuts from dugong ivory. I have however, recently for the first time seen dugong teeth in person and to my great surprise they are solid with almost no central cavity - not hollow as I thought a lot of available photos seem to show.

This has somewhat altered my opinion of what can - and can't be - cut from dugong teeth. I have taken photos of the teeth in situ and will upload them when I have a chance to dig them out of my archive at work.

Regarding the ID based on laminations alone, I agree a 110% with you kai, that it's not a sufficient character alone.

Detlef, until I have actually seen dugong ivory in some cut sections, my best guess would be that the hilt you show is carved from hippo incisor. It fits the concentric layers with the central dot as well as the general outline - see standard reference picture attached. If they exported the tusk to SEA , then surely it wouldn't be too far fetched to assume, that the incisors went the same route?

- beautiful hilt btw! :)


All the best, - Thor

...the walrus one kicks major butt too - the color is stellar! Would you say that this one was tea-stained?

I am totally agree with you. It is a nice piece!

Anyway, what's with the green smudge on the base, Detlef?

Hello Moshah,

Copper ions leaching from a brass/bronze selut do stain ivory green.

Regards,
Kai

Just to follow up...regarding the raw gigi I saw in the field its clear thanks to Thor's photo that the material in question was sperm whale tooth as his photos precisely resembled those. So perhaps that's where gigi comes from :confused:

Exactly explained! :)

Both hilts are not from my own collection but from a friends collection. They are from the collection from Wolfgang Schilling who has shown both hilts in the publication "Faszination Kris, Zauber des Materials" as examples of the declared material and he is sure that is exactly this material.
Will ask him again about the Jawa Deman hilt.

Regards,

Detlef