Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

A. G. Maisey · 6th May 2009, 12:27 AM

Ferry, I know you to be quite knowledgeable in the field of keris, you have this keris in your hand, and your opinion is that it is early HB.

However, I would ask you to consider this:-

is it legitimate to give a kraton based tangguh to a keris that is obviously of far less than kraton quality?

is it possible to give a supportable opinion in respect of tangguh when we are dealing with a keris that lacks many of the indicators that we would normally use to establish an opinion?

is it possible that we are looking at a keris that might be able to be categorised as Kajoran, or perhaps Godean --- or maybe, just maybe, Palembang?

I myself am not prepared to offer an opinion on this keris, simply because it is far too difficult to form an opinion from just a photo. I cannot accurately appraise the pawakan, I have no idea at all of the tanting, I cannot feel the texture, I cannot see if the ganja is sebit ron or nguceng mati, I do not know the form of the sirah cecak---its just too hard from a photo, especially for a blade like this.

What I think I can see is what appears to be a fairly substantial blade with a sharply defined ada-ada running full length of the blade, no kruwingan, a square blumbangan, a ganja with a mid line curve, but a small and harsh tungkakan. This is sufficient to point my mind along a certain road, but at the end of that road there are a number of gateways. I do not know from the photos which one to choose.

6th May 2009, 12:27 AM	#11
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,697	Ferry, I know you to be quite knowledgeable in the field of keris, you have this keris in your hand, and your opinion is that it is early HB. However, I would ask you to consider this:- is it legitimate to give a kraton based tangguh to a keris that is obviously of far less than kraton quality? is it possible to give a supportable opinion in respect of tangguh when we are dealing with a keris that lacks many of the indicators that we would normally use to establish an opinion? is it possible that we are looking at a keris that might be able to be categorised as Kajoran, or perhaps Godean --- or maybe, just maybe, Palembang? I myself am not prepared to offer an opinion on this keris, simply because it is far too difficult to form an opinion from just a photo. I cannot accurately appraise the pawakan, I have no idea at all of the tanting, I cannot feel the texture, I cannot see if the ganja is sebit ron or nguceng mati, I do not know the form of the sirah cecak---its just too hard from a photo, especially for a blade like this. What I think I can see is what appears to be a fairly substantial blade with a sharply defined ada-ada running full length of the blade, no kruwingan, a square blumbangan, a ganja with a mid line curve, but a small and harsh tungkakan. This is sufficient to point my mind along a certain road, but at the end of that road there are a number of gateways. I do not know from the photos which one to choose.