Jean, I'm not looking at the metal in this 9 luk blade --- actually I find it close to impossible to form an opinion on the nature of metal from a photograph --- I'm looking at style, and stylistically it tends to West/North Jawa. The gonjo is very stiff, the gandhik seems longish. As is always the case, I'd need to handle it to give a supportable opinion, and that opinion would be based on determination of a supportable tangguh --- which in itself might seem to be a contradiction after my previous comments, but if you can determine a supportable tangguh, and of course that would need to be in modern terms, then you have a starting point, and you can ask the question of what areas were active that might produce a blade of that classification. I guess it all comes back to experience and opinion.
In so far as pamor is concerned, yes, it is a miring pamor, I'm a bit hesitant to put a name on the pamor in the sorsoran, it could be one of several and opinions vary, and it pretty much depends upon who or what has influenced your opinions.
I have handled keris in European collections that date back to pre-1700 that have both surface manipulated mlumah pamors, and pamor miring.
Major influences on Javanese metal work were the early influx of metal workers from the Indian sub-continent, the rise of Majapahit, and the collapse of Majapahit. Mojo went east by the early 1500's. 1500 to 1700 is 200 years, plenty of time for the development of the techniques used to produce pamor miring. Essentially, production of pamor miring only requires preservation of the grain formed during some of the common "washing" methods used to clean material. Its not rocket science.
Yes, certainly pamor work as an art form did develop over time, and is still developing, its just pattern welding, and that has been around for a very long time, think of Viking swords and the Merovingians, and the current pattern welders in Madura are in my opinion amongst the best who ever lived. Anywhere.
If we consider Figiel's work, he references outstanding pattern welding from India during the 1600's, work that is so advanced and complex that it could not just have come out of a vacuum, but must have been under development for an extended period of time. Jawa had long and intimate contact with India, in fact, up until (I think) the mid-1950's Javanese culture was regarded as an Indian sub-culture. It would be unrealistic to think that Indian metal working skills did not flow into Jawa.
The reason that we see so few older blades, or "common" blades with pamor miring is that the cost of a blade with a complex pamor is multiples of the cost of a blade with a simple mlumah pamor, and in the past not many people could pay that elevated price. Its a bit like furniture:- very high quality antique furniture was only available to people with very big incomes. The common people could afford lesser quality. The day labourers could afford junk. Just because something is old does not make it worthwhile, nor desirable. But if you come across an abused and neglected chair that has indications of quality workmanship, you might only pay the same for that as you would for a piece of day labourer's junk that was hidden in a barn for 200 years. Same with keris:- condition is one of the elements considered in appraisal.
I agree with you Jean, that many people who sell keris, and other antiques and art for that matter, do tend to be a little optimistic when it comes to affixing an estimate of age onto something, but there is more than adequate evidence to permit us to accept that complex pattern welding did occur in Jawa prior to 1800.
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