Kai is absolutely correct in what he has written.
This keris uses a Javanese blade, it was put together in Jogja, the man who was the principal fabricator of this hilt style passed about 25 years ago, he had made these in his younger years, and probably his father before him.
There was more than one maker, I only knew the man I have mentioned.
I used the word "fabricator". The metal shell was made by one man, the fabricator, the embossing work was done by a second man, the chaser.
Because these were very low cost tourist items, only low grade chasers were used, thus these hilts are never of any quality.
No cultural values can be read into this keris, nor the components of its dress. They were made for dealers and fed into the market by general dealers, not by anybody associated with keris.
Some were sold locally in Jogja, others went to Jakarta & Bali.
|