Thanks, Alan, for a nice explanation. Every old thing in the world was new at some time. Even you and I were young many years ago :-)
As you said
"The Javanese and Balinese traditional mind still functions as a magic world-view in traditional matters.
So age is important, its just that it is thought of in a different way to the way in which you think of age."
That's exactly what I meant: there is a profound difference between the rational Western mind and the more "magic-oriented" Oriental one. Nothing derogatory here, just the fact. And of all the "Oriental" traditions, the Indonesian view of weapons is perhaps the most " magical" one. Even in India, Japan, or the Middle East newly-made weapons are not considered " authentic". Well, perhaps the Japanese are still willing to pay big money for newly-made swords of exceptional quality, but even they venerate only the really antique ones.
Collecting Kerises requires a dramatic reformatting of one's mind and scale of values.... Tough....
BTW, does the same applies to any other Indonesian weapons? Or is it only the keris that stands alone?
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