Excellent and very reasonable comment/explanation David!
But here's the thing. for me, I am forever grateful to those that show their blades, especially from serious and well respected collectors! because this is the only way I can learn. I personally have almost never comment on the 'quality' of a blade - any blade- primarily because I don't know enough and also as a mark of respect but sometimes do ask some points that I want to understand more regarding a particular blade.
but regarding the 'culture' of Indonesians NOT to show their blades for some mystical reasons , I guess this is not strictly correct, because for the last several years I've visited quite a few keris exhibitions in Indonesia, in places where keris culture is very deep, such as in Medan, Sumatera, Bone Sulawesi, Various places in Bali, Solo, Jogjakarta , Nganjuk and Jakarta.
Virtually all of the keris in the 'pameran' (exhibition) are old and I guess some are pusakas (Unless the exhibition is specifically for kemardikan keris)
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