New Year New Keris
 

Hi everyone,

Acquired a new keris Madura (to me) and managed to bring it to Australia (thank you again Alan and Pak Rasjid for pointing me into the right direction).

Pamor: Lintang Kemukus
Dhapur: I guess it is diluar pakem (I’ve used 2 references: Dhapur 1920 and Keris Jawa antara Mistik dan Nalar and could not find a match)
Age: Probably not so old but maybe pre 1945?

I would really appreciate your comments as part of my learning curves into kerisology

Thank you

That's an attractive keris, but from what i can see i don't believe it to be pre-WWII. I suspect this is a fairly recent creation that has received a bit of an aging treatment. This artificial aging is not always done to deceive. It is s preferred look for some. I only see it as deception if it is presented in the marketplace as old.

I do not know almost anything about krises, but this is definitely a masterpiece of pattern welding. Posibly made by the same pande that made the braided blade that was shown here some time ago.
Anyhow, this is a recently made kris and I believe it is less than 20 years young.

Nice beefy blade, though almost certainly post 1945. I do like the Madura style ladrang wrongkos.

Dhapur "sinom robyong" came to mind but I think that requires sogokan.

Thank you David, mariusgmioc and jagabuwana for your feedbacks.

I agree that the blade looks too “intact” to be old.

Hi Mariusgmioc, which blade are you reffering to (braided pamor)? Is it the one with pamor Jarot Asem?

Hi Jagabuwana,

Yes due to the presence of the jenggot, my first thought was Sinom Robyong as well. However like you had mentioned Sinom Robyong was listed with sogokan which did not exist in my blade.

Cheers

In practice post-1945 is really the same as saying post 1970s. There are not a lot of keris being made in the period between 1945-early 1970s. I think this keris was made after the 1970s, but really could be as recent as last week. ;)

This one

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ght=kamardikan

Thanks for the link mariusgmioc.

I can see some similarities blade-wise, though i believe the pamor on Anthony's keris is much more complex than mine.

Cheers,

Well, i don't see too many similarities blade-wise between the two. I think you are correct that the keris Marius linked to is a more difficult pamor to forge. Your Lintang Kemukus is executed with great skill, but i see no reason to assume that the same smith was responsible for both these blades as Marius suggests. There are certainly more than just one highly skilled keris smith working in Indonesia at the moment. ;)

I think it is not from the same empu. But nevertheless, this keris is a beauty. The steel looks like it is forged from old keris material. nice!

Thank you David for your additional feedbacks.

Thank you Anthony, I hope one day I'll find a Keris with pamor Jarot Asem like yours.

Cheers,

Hi

You are welcome.

FYI please, if you want this pamor; there is only 1 craftsman who can do that and in fact, he is the person who 'invented it'. There are only 4 such keris for the moment.

And if you want it, I can help you to link up with the trusted dealer who has the contact with this craftsman. I am making a new piece in March 2020 with same pamor but different dapur.

tamarind fibre
 

Anthony, re pamor jarot asem, the craftsman who produces this pamor might perhaps claim to have invented it, but if he did, he is certainly an extremely old man now. I don't know exactly how long this pamor has been around, but mention of it exists in old books that were published long before the current crop of Madura tradesmen became as talented as they now are.

I think perhaps your maker might have re-invented it, because I've never known anybody who could produce this pamor.

Regards,

Alan.

Hi Alan, what you have wrote is true. Indeed, he could have invented a new but similar pamor pattern. I think the name he gave is braid pamor (english) according to a friend.

Yes, possibly, new, but similar.

I've had a look at some old drawings of Jarot Asem, and it does differ a bit from your "Jarot Asem". Maybe he calls it "Pamor Koncir".

Hi Alan,

Is it possible to share the image of the old drawings of pamor Jarot Asem?

Thank you.

allow me to be busybody first in providing the photo :p

Yep.

That's a tamarind if ever I saw one.

Thank you Anthony and Alan