Information concerning a Keris (Czerny's)
 

Dear all,
i was looking in some czerny's catalog and a keris got my eyes.
I wanted to know your opinion about it (it is already sold).
Look like a keris ligan, concerning age, it's dated 19th. The garap looks nice, and the blade well forged.
What could be the greenish aspect of the blade ?
Thanks in advance for your toughts,
Julien

IMO a nice Lombok (or Balinese) keris and the colour of the blade is because is dirty and rusty. About the age I am not able to say .... but the whole does not seem recent to me.

I agree with Marco.
I placed a bid on this piece but lost... :mad:

Me too Jean, Me too :( . I hope it will be resell in some times :p

Hello Julien,

Sorry - very unlikely to happen anytime soon... ;) :p


BTW, I believe the fittings are younger than the blade.

Regards,
Kai

Apparently the origin of this keris is from a dealer in Singapore who sold it overseas. Nice keris. So who is the type of user for this kind of design back in old days? Priest? Warriors? Maybe.

This sort of hilt is supposedly the hilt of a young man, however, opinions I have heard in Bali are that it is the hilt of a warrior.

The binding can be human hair, a woman's hair, or more often coconut fibre, its purpose, again supposedly, is that it provides a firm grip when the victim's blood is running all over your keris & your hands, and probably your head and chest as well.

Off hand I do not know the Balinese name for this blade form, but the Jawa name would be sepang, possibly something different in Bali.

In Jawa sepang brings marital contentment and the rapid production of a child --- jangan sampai lupa:- DUA CUKUP!!

From this response can we assume this blade is now in your trust custodianship? If so i hope we might eventually see some images of it once you renew it's appearance somewhat. :)
As for the fittings being younger than the blade, i would say that is probably a given with most of the antique keris we own. ;)

Sorry Alan, but i'm going to call you out just a little bit here.
As you probably know, Google Translator is to Indonesian languages what a car crusher is to a junkyard automobile. You know it was once a vehicle and you can still see parts of what it once was, but now it has little meaning.
What i get from it is:
"Do not forget: - TWO ENOUGH!!"
But since keris sepang is supposed to encourage child birth is this phrase really meant to mean "Two is NOT enough"? :shrug:

Hi David,

For sure Alan will explain it better than me, meanwhile here is a short explanation:

Your google translation is correct.

I believe Alan is referring to Soeharto’ New Order famous slogan for Planned Family Program: Dua Anak Cukup (Two Kids are Enough).

In the past Indonesian believes that More Kids More Fortune Will Come (Banyak Anak Banyak Rejeki), hence the famous Dua Anak Cukup slogan as Birth Control campaign.

Cheers,

Ah, thank you! Yes, i was not aware of the reference. Makes more sense now. :)
But everything i said about google translator still stands! LOL! :D

Hi David

I am confused now, keris sepang is use by warriors and it is also to encourage child birth? I murder a person thru fighting and at same time i am encouraging people to make babies as well? :P

The hilt for fighters, the blade for lovers.

You wanna be fighter or lover?

Or maybe both in the same skin?

Makes sense to me:- as a fighter you wipe a few undesirables out, as a lover you help to replace them.

The dua cukup thing became a bit of a joke when the slogan was current, it was applied in many more applications than just the limiting of the number of children.