David, Jean & Mr Maisey, I am loath to ask more questions and put you to further trouble, but I cannot help myself. Your kind comments only serve to whet my interest further in regard to this awesome keris. (I have taken serious note of your advice so far and am amplifying my "Java Keris Book of Facts" as I go along.) May there be some more Q & A's before you lose patience with me!
Noting what was said above about the inverted metal oversheath: When I received this keris and sheath, the wrangka was separated from the bunton-type gandar/pendok unit. I could not get confirmation from the owner that the warangka and pendok/gandar actually belonged to one another. He simply did not know, but he said he got it in that condition. I gently tried to fit the warangka to the rest of the sheath first the one way around, then the other. The way it is now, glued together by me, is the way it fitted best. I admit I let myself be led by this fit. The other way around was very ill-fitting. Now this might spell out that the two components do not belong to one another - the inverted fit being better merely by coincidence.
In addition, the brass oversheath has floral/leafy designs on the one side, and looking at the indentations carefully, I think they were stamped in with punches and hammer, not incised/carved. If the quality of the oversheath is inferior to the quality of the wrangka, it might suggest the two do not match. Depending on your comments, I might have to detach and re-attach the wrangka other way round?
Lastly, I am wondering about the pendok variation I have. It cannot be cukitan, because the design is not pierced, nor is it carved (krawangan). Is it a known variation when the decoration is by punch?
Johan
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