But there is a reason for those cheapy mendak Willem.
A good brand new mendak can cost more than a pretty reasonable sort of keris.
A good old mendak can cost more than a decent keris.
It wasn't always like this, but it is now.
If somebody in the keris trade in Indonesia wants to sell a good keris, and by keris, I mean the keris itself, not including the dress, they limit their buyers by dressing that keris in premium component parts, so they either sell the blade bare, or use cheap, low quality dress.
This permits the new owner to dress the keris as he sees fit. However, if he wishes to use older dress on the old keris, he may take quite some time to assemble the quality parts he needs, and one of the more difficult parts is the mendak.
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