[A. G. Maisey]

"Likely" is not really specific David, I am indicating a relatively high degree of probability.

But yeah, sure, its only a guess, & I'm guessing like that because firstly, the blade is a quality blade, whoever could pay for that blade would not have had much of a problem in paying for very low carat gold in the pendok.

Keris fittings were a way of storing wealth, and when cash was needed, the pendok & the mendak (in Jawa) were usually the first to go. This keris is not really all that old, everything is in good condition, I doubt that it lost its pendok because of damage.

But for a replacement pendok silver or copper would be suitable --- but polos, ie, plain, no motif.

Peter, you might find that finger pressure alone is sufficient to re-align that gonjo, and then just tighten the fit of gonjo to pesi (tang) with a nail punch.

Kai, I'm guessing on balance of probabilities & taking social mores into consideration, if I wished to extend my guesses --- which I'm not, I'd guess that the original selut might also have been suasa, and that has been replaced too. The gambar of the wrongko looks just fine to me, just a bit of furniture oil and elbow grease, but the gandar is as we would expect to see under a pendok, additionally, it appears to have adhesions of jabung, so just based on what I can see in the picture, there is no doubt at all in my mind that this keris did have a pendok in the past. In fact, if we look very carefully at the foot of the gambar, I tend to think that we can see more evidence of the previous fitting of a pendok, the curve of the top of a pendok is clear either an imprint, or just wood discolouration.

Peter, porosity in a blade exists from the time it was made & is the result of poor quality iron and insufficient washing of the iron --- "washing"> the repeated folding & welding of material prior to combining the iron with contrasting material, it is the first step in preparation of material for use in a blade. The rough surface of a keris blade after cleaning comes from the removal of the corrosion.