Ivory and Silver Junggayan Barong Restoration
 

Greetings Folks!

Here is a restoration I did for someone recently. The piece is a junggayan ivory and silver barong with a Chinese smith's mark. It had a plain brass band in place of an okir/okil chased silver band.

I replaced it with a silver okir/okil silver band. Here are some before pictures.

Here are the after pictures.

Enjoy:

Oh man, what a difference one band makes! Very nice work. It follows the original design very nicely. Good work!

Steve

What can I say but more beautiful work by the master.:cool:

Robert

Nice job !

I would patinate the silver wire a little as now it looks a little bit to overcleaned for my taste.
But the chase or repouse work on the band looks great.
How many hours did such a job take ?

Best regards
Willem

Your work is beautiful Jose, but frankly from my own aesthetic i prefer the way it looks in the original photo with plain brass band breaking up all that silver.
You did a great job matching the repousse work though.

Hi Jose, It is a beautiful piece. Did you say that it has the mark of a Chinese blacksmith? Can you show it to us?

Nonoy

Very Nice Jose! Thanks for sharing! Love to see what you can do! :)

Thank you folks! :D I felt truly honored to work on this project.

Willem I think just that part of the restoration alone may have taken around 2-3 hours altogether. Also, the light is brighter in the restoration pictures I think.

David, this is how these were originally done - bands of alternating woven and chased silver bands.

Nonoy Tan, as far as the Chinese mark is concerned, I will have to get back to you on that - don't have pictures of that part.

From Elegant to Royalty. :) :)

vince

I'm not questioning the authenticity of the job Jose. This just isn't a case where my personal aesthetic and ideas about restoration would choose not to change anything. If indeed this middle ring was once silver it seems it was replaced for some reason in it's history. Part of what i am collecting is the history of the piece. My reasoning is not a case of right or wrong, merely a preference. Again, you did a very nice job...

Oh I understand. Actually, the original ring was missing and the last owner placed a thin brass band from a craft shop in there to cover up the missing space temporarily.

Wow! Very impressive! :D

Then restoration makes more sense to me. From the photo it doesn't look that temporary.

It got a whole lot better!
Good job.
Did you have to take the hilt off? If you didn't, how did you
solder it? Cold?

Looks fantastic Jose.

What sort of thickness is the sheet silver you used?
Metal punches or horn and wood?

Great work. Looks a treat!

Yes Jose!....Looks fantastic!

Thank you folks!

I did not have to take the hilt off, but did have to soft solder the ends of the band together. Had to do it very carefully so that I wouldn't burn the wood or ivory.

Also I used I think 30 gauge thick silver. I repoussed it and then chased it to match the other bands. When I do this work I use my own hand made steel punches with a chasing hammer.

This restoration is so good that when you don't tell it nobody will recognize it! :)

Regards,

Detlef

What a great compliment - Thank you (Vielen Dank!) :D

Hello Jose,

credit where credit is due! :)

Great restoration on a great barung.
Wonderfull piece!

Maurice

Very Talented restorer!

Thank you. I do the best I can with what I have. :)