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Old 13th October 2013, 11:57 AM   #15
A. G. Maisey
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Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 6,703
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I don't have much to add to what has already been said, except that I can possibly be a little more definite about what I say.

This is a Javanese pedang blade, close examination will show that it predates 1850, the dress will be found to be from Javanese sandalwood (unscented). The style of dress is popular in Central Jawa, especially Solo.

It is important to understand that for the Javanese people, the spiritual value of any item of tosan aji is contained in the blade, not in the dress. For a collector of tosan aji the items of dress, hilt, scabbard etc., can certainly have a value when they are old or antique, most particularly when they are also of good quality, but very often the old Javanese weapons actually used in war lack their scabbards, and the hilts are frequently very utilitarian. So, what has happened is that old blades were frequently re-dressed in plain good quality wooden dress, or as often happened when pedang were still sometimes worn as items of dress in parades & etc., they were re-dressed in gold or silver.

Then there is the fact that many families have inherited weapons that they wish to keep and as a mark of respect they will re-dress the blade in a simple style to replace old and damaged original dress.

The hilt and scabbard that have been fitted to this blade appear to be of quite nice quality, whether the quality is as good as it appears to be will depend very largely upon two things:- firstly, is the scabbard carved from an unjointed piece of wood, that is, is there no join along the edges of the scabbard, and secondly, does the fit and finish give evidence of careful craftsmanship.

As Detlef has advised, the oil will be keris oil. I strongly recommend that the oil that originates in Indonesia not be used, as this has a coconut oil base that is not particularly wonderful for long term storage. It is far better to make your own oil using sandalwood or some other fragrance, such as jasmine and a base of medicinal paraffin. If oil is used, it will eventually stain the scabbard, so it is best not to store the oiled blade in the scabbard but to wrap it in plastic after oiling and store it out of the scabbard.

This is actually a pretty nice pedang.
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