My curiosity was piqued by our discussion (how could somebody write a book with more than 450 pages about these scarce Minangkabau krisses?).
I feel particularly interested by these krisses after my visit to Padang and Bukittingi in 1997 (during which I could see and handle many Minang krisses), so I decided to buy the book and just received it, and my comments are as follows:
The book is attractively presented with many excellent kris pictures, but most of these krisses are not from Minang origin in my opinion, so the book title is confusing. Some krisses are correctly attributed to other areas such as Palembang, Riau, Jambi, Sulawesi, Borneo, West Java, etc. but many others classified as Minang and "influenced by krisses from other areas" are actually originating from these regions IMO.
According to my observations and the descriptions from Jensen in his Krisdisk, I share the opinion that the original Minang krisses are of either of the 2 following types, with some variations of course:
. Average size kris with alang/ bahari type blade without pamor or with pamor sanak.
. Small size kris with anak alang blade generally with 3 luks, and possibly worn by women.
I attach 2 typical specimens of these krisses for your reference and discussion.
In spite of my questioning about the krisses attribution in the book, it constitutes a very good picture reference for many types of Indonesian krisses (especially from Sumatra) so I do not regret my purchase....
I will take more time for reviewing the text later.
Regards
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