Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

A. G. Maisey · 10th July 2010, 12:05 PM

I tend to agree that this is not a recent blade, but again, from pics?

I've frequently been wrong about things working from pics, one of the reasons I'm not prepared to gamble on ebay.

Pamor kendhi gumanthung I do not know, but it suggests a pamor tambal motif.

I considered lar gangsir agal myself, but I finally decided against it because of the repetitive nature with isolated sections that the motif on this blade displays. In lar gangsir you can normally trace grain flow, in your pamor the grain flow is interrupted. Examined under magnification I might --- a big might --- be prepared to accept lar gangsir agal.

I cannot recall hearing nor reading of pamor rambut daradah, rambut is "hair", I do not know the word "daradah".

However, not knowing a name is something that I do not regard as unusual, as pamor names change from area to area, and some pamors will be known in one area and not known in another area. The matter of pamor names can be confused even further by haphazard and irregular naming.

Perhaps 20 years ago I was in a keris dealer's warung in Solo. An agent came in with some keris for sale and after the dealer had selected what he wanted to buy, I in turn bought several from that dealer. I did not recognise the pamor on one of the blades and I asked both the dealer and the agent what it was called. They did not know, and the agent said it was something new that the maker had tried. The dealer suggested that I might like to give it a name, so I named it "tirto tejo". Since that time I have encountered this pamor a number of times, and more often than not the seller will call it tirto tejo.

I really do not think it is a good idea to get too involved with the names given to unusual and non-standard pamor motifs.

10th July 2010, 12:05 PM	#8
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,992	I tend to agree that this is not a recent blade, but again, from pics? I've frequently been wrong about things working from pics, one of the reasons I'm not prepared to gamble on ebay. Pamor kendhi gumanthung I do not know, but it suggests a pamor tambal motif. I considered lar gangsir agal myself, but I finally decided against it because of the repetitive nature with isolated sections that the motif on this blade displays. In lar gangsir you can normally trace grain flow, in your pamor the grain flow is interrupted. Examined under magnification I might --- a big might --- be prepared to accept lar gangsir agal. I cannot recall hearing nor reading of pamor rambut daradah, rambut is "hair", I do not know the word "daradah". However, not knowing a name is something that I do not regard as unusual, as pamor names change from area to area, and some pamors will be known in one area and not known in another area. The matter of pamor names can be confused even further by haphazard and irregular naming. Perhaps 20 years ago I was in a keris dealer's warung in Solo. An agent came in with some keris for sale and after the dealer had selected what he wanted to buy, I in turn bought several from that dealer. I did not recognise the pamor on one of the blades and I asked both the dealer and the agent what it was called. They did not know, and the agent said it was something new that the maker had tried. The dealer suggested that I might like to give it a name, so I named it "tirto tejo". Since that time I have encountered this pamor a number of times, and more often than not the seller will call it tirto tejo. I really do not think it is a good idea to get too involved with the names given to unusual and non-standard pamor motifs.