Thanks, David, that puts me at ease. While I await some further kind inputs to the remaining questions I asked in the post above, let me ramble on. In my specific social community I am unfortunately isolated with regard to my interests. The result is that my friends (bless their arthritic joints) in my circle constantly have to submit to my stories and look at pictures of kerisses. At least they seem to share my enthusiasm, and I have not had the feeling they are merely humouring me.
My 81-year-old sister, who lives with my wife and I, regularly hobbles into my museum-like man-cave and demands updates on the newest information on the Bugis keris as it accumulates! That's cool.
Cheers
Johan