Need advice purchasing my first Kriis
 

Good morning all,

I've collected balisongs for over 30 years now but have always been interested in the other edged weapons from my native Philippines. I have recently come upon an opportunity to purchase what I can only presume is a deceased gentleman's collection, as his son-in-law who is managing the estate has no other information to offer other than that he believes that they are Indonesian.

I've asked around some of the forums that I peruse, and the general consensus among most of the people I've PM'd has been to bring my question to this particular forum, as this is where the true experts on ethnographic arms reside. Could someone kindly shed more information about the origin/ethnicity/authenticity of the swords in the attached pictures? I'm not quite sure if any of these are worth collecting, or if these are just some cheaply made swords that were made for the tourist market. As all of my fellow collectors here know, it's so easy to get in over your head in this hobby if you don't do your research and due diligence.

Any and all input will be most appreciated. Thank you all!

-Ron

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Hi Ron,
Welcome to the forum. I had to eliminate your links since forum policy demands that all images are uploaded directly to the forums. Just beneath the message box you will find 'Additional Options" and you would want to click on "Manage Attachments".
Only the image you linked to with the 3 blades are keris. The other was some sort of pedang. We only discuss keris on this forum. So if you would like to directly upload the images of keris that would be fine.
We don't, by policy, discuss live auctions and we don't discuss prices, so i do ask that any discussion of these keris be focussed on authenticity and quality. From what i did see in your photos these certainly seem worthy of collection though we would need to see good photos to determine whether they we made for indigenous use or for a collector's market. I would not say these qualify as tourist items from what i saw. :)

Hello Ron,

I hope you find some time to repost your pics!

Here's a primer for attaching the files:
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=13631

If you need some additional help, just ask!

BTW, uploaded pics will take a while to appear on site since as newer member you're probably still on moderated status.

Regards,
Kai

Thanks for that added note Kai. When i passed skyblue's post i was in a rush and was going to return to post the link you just added and then it slipped my mind. I also am hoping he returns with some images.
And please ignore what looks like an edit on your post. I accidentally hit "edit" instead of "quote" and added my comment to your original post by mistake. :o