Hello Johan,
Welcome! That's certainly a better start to keris collecting than many out there!
BTW, what is the blade size for this keris?
19th c. seems like a good guess for this piece; it is certainly a good idea to try to obtain as much info as possible when acquiring such a piece from local sources (still remember to buy the keris rather than the story - however, if you don't ask, chances are that possibly valuable info may get lost).
I'm pretty much with Gustav here:
Quote:
Perhaps not over cleaned, yet the blade tip has been re-sharpened an is a little bit awkward now.
Sirah Cecak has received a "beump" (quotation Inspector Clouzot)
I would say, more likely Riau then Sulawesi. That Pendokok we encounter also in M. Peninsula.
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The blade does look like a Riau or Malacca Straits piece and could well be from the Indonesian or the Malay coast (with likelihood being higher for eastern Sumatran regions IMHO).
This is not a blade that really asks for warangan staining like Jean's example. At least it's pretty obvious that the general approach of the originating culture was to gently repolish these blades when cleaning (and possibly staining) them. Thus, a fairly smooth blade with topographic etching is not necessarily overcleaned. However, as Gustav already pointed out, Nik does have a point in this case and I guess that a former owner did work over the blade with sandpaper and did over"polish" the exposed ridges, especially at the tip. Removing metal is something that is also commonly done in the originating culture(s) when trying to revamp an aged/worn blade; however, it needs to be done with sufficient expertise as not to look off...
Regards,
Kai