Bali Keris on Ebay
 

OK, this one got away from me on ebay and since it was a private auction i wouldn't be at all surfprised if one of my fellow forumite snagged it in the end. An unusal piece. Anyone want to talk about it?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...MEDW%3AIT&rd=1

Nice piece. A little surprised it went for so much. I would have expected this price on something all silver or with some gold and ivory.

Jose, i think here you need to look past the dress to the keris itself. Remember that ultimately that is the most important part. I think you will find this is a very unusual Bali keris, espically if it is indeed 19thC or earlier and not a recently made piece. The pics weren't the best, but my feeling is that this is an older Bali keris. Swirl patterns like that kul buntet (?) are fairly rare on an old world Bali keris. All the work seems to be very well executed. I personally think this keris went rather cheaply.

Yes a very nice piece indeed.

-wasnt me bidding too on this piece, I wanted to.....but had to repair the roof of my house...glad i did cause started snowing here....at the other hand as a real collector , one month more or less in the cold, but a nice piece in my collection hmmmm.-
I saw The keris "life" myself at an collectorsmeeting held 4 x a year in the Netherlands. especially guncollectorsclub but kerises too.
webside www.vvnw.nl ( sorry no info on kerises, or other weapons, just
about the (international) meetings etc)....sorry Nechesh only in Dutch too.

Back to the bali keris.
Its not only gold and silver whats decide the price.
This a very good workmanship as well on the dapur and the pamor.
And old one too,19th centh. hard to find these days. congratulations winning bidder ! ..if he's/she reading this.

I didn't think the blade was that nice, maybe except for the pamor. The kembang kacang looks a bit odd to me (Cuts too deep into the blade), and it disrupts the qul buntet. The pamor 'falls off' the blade at many spots too, making me wonder if the blade has a steel core. I've seen that sort of hilt (same style, same wood) on a new Balinese keris with painted sandang walikat sheath earlier this year. I think this keris is at best early-mid 20th century.

Kai Wee, i agree with you that this is not a "perfect" blade, but i don't think that is what determines whether or not it is "nice" for me at least. What makes this blade unusal and i think valuable (and for me, nice :) ) is the pamor. I think this is a rather rare blade (and pamor) for what i will call "old world" Balinese keris, that is keris made prior to WWII. I agree this is probably an early 20thC keris. We have come to expect these multiple pamor blades in modern keris making, but to find a pre-WWII Balinese blade this way seems rather unusal. Also, the use of the kul buntet (alone or in combination) is quite unusal in Balinese keris making. These factors make for a somewhat rare piece IMO, regardless of the lack of perfection. Of course, the bottom line is, i really just liked this keris, and a big part of love is learning to accept the flaws in your object of desire, but my budget at the moment kept me from bidding any higher than $870. :)

You have a point Nechesh. I forget at times that I may focus too much on the precious metals (a weakness of mine :o ). I did notice the pamor and that I have not seen this often, though I do agree with BluErf that it goes off the blade at times. :rolleyes:

Yep, it sure does....but then, only God is perfect, right. :)
Then of course, He did make us..... :rolleyes: