[A. G. Maisey]

Yes, in olden times in these areas, silver did not appear to be very highly regarded at all. Gold was, and it seemed to be splashed around in an almost profligate manner, but of course we need to understand this in the context of Javanese/Balinese society, where allegiance was purchased rather than based upon emotion or tradition. If your lord or ruler could not protect you, you replaced him.

It has clearly been a different situation altogether in Bali since probably the early years of the 20th century, and in Jawa since probably the early years of the 19th century. In Jawa silver has obviously been so popular since the 19th century that they even adopted the use of an inexpensive lookalike:- mamas. Good quality mamas can be so convincing as silver that you really do need to test it to tell the difference. A lot of dealers who can't tell the difference sell it as silver, and back in the 1950's and 1960's I bought a number of keris that had "native silver" pendoks. This "native silver" was mamas --- but I didn't find out about this until many years later.

Silver value varies enormously, so its is arguable as to just how good it is as investment property. Back in the 1970's the Hunts tried to corner the market and this drove silver up to about $50 an ounce in 1980. Then its value dropped away again, and currently it is again heading skywards. This seems to have been the story of silver throughout history. Gold is far more stable.

Those of us from a European background seem to think in terms of gold and silver --- Franz Lehar even wrote a song with that title --- but as far as I can understand, silver did not ride on the same carriage as gold in old-time Javanese/Balinese thought.

PS--- to be fair, Franz the rock star did not compose that waltz for the metals, but for a ball organised by a a Hungarian princess Pauline Metternich