Keris hilts
 

Hi All,

My first time posting and hope I get it right.
Appreciate if you guys can help give an estimate of the ages of these hilts.

B/rgds,
Jonathan

Oh, Jonathan very nice hits!!. :)
My prefer is the first on the right.

Hi Jonathan, welcome to the forum. Whe're you from? :)
Nice hilts. Like Marco, I especially like the extreme right.
Deep, clean carvings. This is wood, yes? The rest looks like ivory.

Unfortunately, it's difficult to estimate from a single picture. Detail pictures from many angles would be nice, but still no guarantee. It's tedious and too much guesswork... :o

Hi Jon,

We met a couple of times at Adni's shop and at the Malay Heritage Centre. I like your collection of hilts and kerises. Very keen eye for art. :) Welcome to the forum.

Regards,
Kai Wee

While the Sulawesi hilt on the extreme right catches the eye with its crisp carving, the rashaksa (or putro satu) hilt that is 2nd from the left is also worthy of attention. I think that hilt is stunning in a sublime manner. I think it is probably the oldest of the lot.

Yes Jon, i would also like to welcome you to the forum and thank you for posting these hilts. Very nice indeed.
If Kai Wee has met you and says you're OK then it must be so. ;) :)
These hilts are very beautiful indeed! I would also agree with Kai Wee. They are all nice, but if i had to choose just one it would be the raksasa. :)
Shahrial, ive got a pretty hi-res monitor at work and i think that the Sulawesi hilt on the right is probably ivory as well. It doesn't look like wood on my screen. :shrug:

Earlier, I was looking from office... on my LCD monitors. Now, looking from home, with my big CRT monitor, I agree with you David, it does look ivory especially the base and the texture. ;)

Jonathan, I was a bit apprehensive at first, (because no country of origin). Now that I know whom I think you are, so you're finally here :D. My old army buddy :p.

Thank you all for your warm welcome and reply.
I've been looking at my keris hilts for quite some time now and would like to establish a close approximate of their age and the meaning/ significance of the forms and motifs carved on them. I'll begin with the Sulawesi hilt. I know it's marine ivory but not sure if its from a dugong or a whale's tooth. How do you tell them apart? Appreciate your input.

Hi Jonathan, welcome.
Could you provide a shot of the base of the handle where the pesi enters?
I think that would be the only place that one could see any grain features. :)

Hi Rick,

Hope the pic helps. The grains/ lines are finer than those from a finger print.

Suluwesi?????????????. Looks Madura to me!!!!!!!Dave.

very detail. madurese?

Interesting stuff; it doesn't quite look like Elephant ivory to me. :)

This is a Sulawesi hilt. Marine ivory. An unusually upright variant of this form:

http://www.kampungnet.com.sg/modules...view_photo.php

Motif is very very similar to the piece referenced above too. I can only propose that the uprightness is due to limitation in raw material, or to acommodate a very long peksi. Some Sulawesi keris look like they have imported Javanese blades (high quality ones) to me, so could be that the hilt was made to accommodate the long Javanese Peksi. There could be other reasons.

Maybe i don't see well but it seems from elephant (for angle's grain)

I'm with Kai Wee on this...looks like marine ivory from Sulawesi (not necessarily the ivory, but the form :) ). The color and the ring patterns look correct for the marine stuff. As for whether it is dugong or whale, i am not sure if there is any way to be sure once it has been carved. :shrug: