Bugis Riau Luk 5 Ujung Gunung
 

Hello all. I am new to the forum and actually to the keris as well. It has only been several months since the blade was introduced to me by a vendor at a market. He warned me that I would get hooked and he was right. I already own several kerises, but I find learning about them to be far more interesting. I have been reading all I can on the internet and in books. I have found many differing versions of its history stories associated with the blades mystical side. So, I am here to learn and to share.

So, to start, I want to share this keris that I just received this week. I am going to simply quote what the vendor wrote about the blade and some pictures I took. If you spot a difference from what you see and what is written, please, speak up. In the pictures you will see some bright spots on the blade. I oiled the blade the night before I took the pictures and I didn't notice the spots until after the pictures were taken.

Here is the description:

A keris from the southern Sumatran region of Bugis Riau Lingga. The handle is in the typical Bugis pistol grip (or kerdas form) and is made from kemuning wood. The top sheath is made from hard wood and the bottom stem is made from angsana wood and has a flaring bottom tip. A plain silver alloy ferrule or pendoko completes the fittings.

Very sturdy blade with 5 waves or luks and prominent base features or perabots typical of the region’s styles.

Pamor patterns are arranged in the mlumah technique with the base having a peak like formation called ujung gunung and an overall pamor wos utah.
The pamor ujung gunung is said to enhance the owner’s status while the pamor wos utah is said to enhance the owner’s material well being.

Late 19th century blade and hilt with mid 20th century sheath.

Here are some pictures:

Great first post; well done . :)

I can't argue with the description . :shrug:

What other kerises have you collected so far ?

Rick, thanks! :D Well, Lee's welcome letter said to upload pictures, but since there are several kerises, I'd like to recommend my website that I threw together to show off my collection. It's http://keris.site40.net/.

If this is not okay, let me know and I'll post them!

Dan

welcome
 

Hi and welcome dbhmb,

From your descriptions I reckon your vendor is Malay Arts Gallery(?). Learning about keris is fascinating. A live-long effort and practically endless. An average keris with a slightly below average sheath. The sheath is probably made by someone whom is not a sheath-maker, based on the aesthetics which is off.

Regards,
Alam Shah

You are correct, I did buy it from Adni. At this point, he is someone that I trust. Unfortunately, I don't have the finances to purchase outstanding examples or I don't know where to buy them for prices I can afford. At this point I am just happy to have a collection to call my own.

As to the scabbard I agree with Alam Shah.
The blade is very well made and has a perfectly controlled pamor.

I like the hilt. It's simple yet have a strong character to it. :)

Thanks for all the great input! What would be a theory as to who made the sheath? A former owner?

The blade looks like it is well-forged. It is slightly wider than most Riau Bugis kerises of the same form. The sheath is no good, but you may be able to get an old Riau sheath to fit the blade, or commission a new Riau style sheath. The form shd be like this.

The highest form of this type of Riau keris is best represented by the golden keris owned by the Sultan of Riau-Lingga. Note the similarities between your blade and the royal keris. Of course, the royal keris is immaculately forged and shaped; the archetype of its kind.

Where does one buy a used sheath?

Hi Dan. It is OK to post your website as long as it is not a commercial one, but we prefer that you still upload images to the site because it allows us to build an archive of these images. Unfortunately personal websites come and go, so a reference made in a thread to an image on a website that is gone some years down the line won't provide future readers with the necessary visual information they need. :)

Good! Then, for now, folks can go to the web site and take a look. I will post each of my kerises, one by one, to get them on the site. I have already put another one up this morning for comments and information. :D

Dan, as i believe Alam Shah mentioned on your other thread, we all come to collect keris for different reasons and collect and maintain our collections to suit our own perimeters. In regards to this sheath, i would personally be fine just keeping it as is. No, it is not up to the general specifications that keris dress from this area try to meet and it certainly is no where near the Royal dress which Bluerf has shown here. BUT....this is not a royal court keris. The sheath was obvious made specifically for this blade in a traditional setting and context. It is village work for a village keris, but for me it has a certain character that has collectable value to my eye regardless of it not being a perfect form. It would be far too frustrating (and unaffordable) for me personally to collect keris with perfection of ideal form in mind. What i do insist on in my collection is "character". :)

You speak words of wisdom. As you can tell, I'm all over the place regarding my collection. As a new collector, I really didn't give much thought to what direction I'd take in regards to parameters for a collection. I just bought a few that were prestented to me at an affordable rate and the rest are ones that caught my eye and I could afford.

As for the sheath, I really didn't intend to replace it - I just wondered where a guy in my location could buy a sheath for a keris. After reading the comments, I looked at this keris in its sheath and could see that someone took care to make a warangka that fit the blade very well and it just seems right! And it indeed adds character to the keris!