[A. G. Maisey]

David, the concept of "stylistic variation" can cover a multitude of things. Yes, of course you are right in proposing that style of a keris, and of many other things, can be derived from the practices of the leaders of a society.In fact, sometimes a style can be dictated by the leaders of a society. However, in the case of the plain black gonjo found on many Balinese keris, I would suggest that we have something that nobody at the time, and in the place where this developed, considered to be sufficiently important to be subject to the dictates or preferences of a court.

As Brekele has shown, and as Rick in his original post indicated, the plain black Bali gonjo is not a universal phenomenon. It is common, yes, but it is not universal. Amongst my own keris I have a number of old keris with pamor gonjo, I also have a number of old keris with plain black gonjo. I have two keris of extremely high quality with gonjos lacking pamor, but adorned with kniatah work.

So exactly what are we considering?

I would suggest that the matter under consideration is this:-

the majority of Balinese keris held in western collections have gonjos that lack pamor;
why is this so?

and that is pretty much what Rick asked in post # 1.

If we consider Javanese keris with plain black gonjos, there are several theories as to their existence.

There is the practice of taking a gonjo from an old keris to incorporate in the body of a new keris.

There is the simple loss of a gonjo for one reason or another, or its damage through trauma or erosion.

There is the possibility that the maker, or the original client, considered that aesthetically the keris was more pleasing with a plain gonjo rather than a pamor gonjo.

There is the belief that Sultan Agung decreed that in the Kingdom of Mataram only he could possess a keris with a pamor gonjo.

There is the "economic theory" that I have proposed.

There is the "hide the blade" theory, and really, it is "hide the blade", rather than just hide the pamor. If one understands keris, it is possible to look at only the gonjo in the wrongko and often one can know if the blade is straight, or waved, from the material in the gonjo and its shape, one can know the tangguh, and probably the pamor, if one knows the tangguh and whether the blade is straight or waved, and its pamor, then one can possibly guess the dhapur and the tuah , or talismanic power of the blade. By knowledge of the talismanic power of a blade, it can be possible to deduce the secrets of its owner.Simply by looking at the gonjo of the keris, its owner's secrets have been laid bare.
Once in possession of this information, it would be possible to mount a magically based attack on the owner. Even if no attack were to be feared, at the very least, the secrets of the owner were laid bare.

But we are talking about Jawa here. In Bali there is nowhere near the same variety in pamor and dhapur as there is in Jawa, and the concept of tangguh does not exist.Balinese society and culture has not been influenced by the Sufic beliefs which have helped to form Javanese mysticism.
When we consider Bali, we cannot consider it in the same , or even similar light, to Jawa, since perhaps the 15th century.Even prior to the 15th century, Bali was quite different to Jawa. I think it was Gajah Mada who ranted about the "vile Balinese, with their foul habits and long hair".

Whenever we consider any stylistic phenomenon , we need to consider it in terms of the characteristics of that specific society. We cannot try to understand in terms of our own society, nor in terms of a different society, but we must make an attempt to come close to an understanding of the characteristics of the society where that phenomenon exists, before we can attempt to understand some stylistic phenomenon within that society.

In Bali prior to its subjugation by the Dutch, we had an agrarian society. This society was organised under a number of minor warlords who were constantly at one another's throats. The lord of Klungkung was the spiritual leader of these minor lords, but it seemed that he lacked much influence over them.Within the areas dominated by the lords, local organisations managed the land and the water, these local organisations were formed of all married men in a community. The courts certainly had officials, but these officials held their positions on the basis of caste, and everybody, in one degree or another, was a farmer.There seems not to have been the same societal characteristic of self promotion, but rather there was a more homogeneous society dominated by the necessity to cooperate in the sharing of resources in order to survive as a community.

In old Bali there was an earthy crudity to the society. Even into the early years of the 20th century, both before and after occupation by the Dutch, much of south Bali was characterised by gangs of toughs and hoodlums who preyed upon the unwary.Alchoholism, prevalent drug use, bashings, casual murders. Bali was not the ordered society of Jawa, dominated by the Dutch, and with its refined courts, its professional courtiers, and its rampant mysticism. The nature of Balinese society, and the magic within Balinese society was closer to the sympathetic and naturalistic magic of the older cultures of both mainland and maritime SE Asia, rather than to the refined magic which existed in Jawa, that owed much of its nature to both Islamic and European influences.

The keris in this society had the nature of weapon, but it was a weapon that could attain the status of an iconic symbol within a kin group, or at a state level.However, first and foremost it was a weapon, a tool for removing the life force from another human being.

This tool was ordered, purchased and owned by farmers, practical men who needed to conserve resources to survive from one year to the next.Such men do not disperse their limited resources upon those things that are not deemed to be essential.

The fitting of a gonjo costing more than was necessary, to a tool intended for use against other human beings was not a necessary expense. It was an extravagance.This absence of extravagance in the Balinese keris is further evidenced by the most common forms of Balinese keris hilt, and Balinese wrongko. On all counts, the most common form of Balinese keris is a simple, pragmatic tool for ending human life.

It is not claimed that the plain black gonjo is an unvarying feature of the Balinese keris, but it is claimed that it is a feature that occurs more often than does the feature of a keris with pamor.

In any society there are more people with limited resources than people with excess resources. Those with excess resources in old Balinese society may have indulged themselves a little by having a gonjo with pamor on their kerises. However, I believe it is obvious that those with restricted resources felt no need to use any of those resources on the additional cost of a gonjo bearing pamor.

That, essentially, is my argument.
I am not locked into this opinion, and I am more than ready to change my opinion if it can be shown by either logical argument, or by evidence, that this opinion is wrong.