Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

A. G. Maisey · 26th December 2015, 07:19 AM

Suasa is either rose gold or pinchbeck. Both materials are called 'suasa' in Indonesia. When it is rose gold it is gold that has been alloyed with copper, when it is pincbeck it is copper that has been alloyed with zinc, which makes it a kind of brass.

I have a Balinese court keris of the highest quality that for years i thought had a suasa pendok, in fact it is rose gold of something around 19 carat. It looks like suasa, and it would undoubtedly be called suasa by an Indonesian, but actually it is pretty high carat gold.

Pure gold is too soft for any purpose other than to hold as bullion and store in a safe. The carat grade of jewellery varies over 9ct, 14ct, 18ct, 22ct.

Truly pure gold is known as:-

100 : six nines fine

24ct gold is known as 999 and is only three nines fine, but in normal understanding this 24ct, gold is regarded as pure gold, even though it is not.

I think gold of six nines fine has only been produced once, and that was some time in the 1950's by the Perth (Australia) mint.

Again I'm running on memory, but I think that in the USA any gold of less than 14ch purity cannot be claimed to be gold by the seller. This is the reason that a very large number of gold pocket watch cases are 14ct.

So when we talk about gold or suasa, what we're really talking about is a colour difference. That suasa pendok you picked up in last weekend's trash market might be 19ct gold, or it might be brass.

26th December 2015, 07:19 AM	#20
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,704	Suasa is either rose gold or pinchbeck. Both materials are called 'suasa' in Indonesia. When it is rose gold it is gold that has been alloyed with copper, when it is pincbeck it is copper that has been alloyed with zinc, which makes it a kind of brass. I have a Balinese court keris of the highest quality that for years i thought had a suasa pendok, in fact it is rose gold of something around 19 carat. It looks like suasa, and it would undoubtedly be called suasa by an Indonesian, but actually it is pretty high carat gold. Pure gold is too soft for any purpose other than to hold as bullion and store in a safe. The carat grade of jewellery varies over 9ct, 14ct, 18ct, 22ct. Truly pure gold is known as:- 100 : six nines fine 24ct gold is known as 999 and is only three nines fine, but in normal understanding this 24ct, gold is regarded as pure gold, even though it is not. I think gold of six nines fine has only been produced once, and that was some time in the 1950's by the Perth (Australia) mint. Again I'm running on memory, but I think that in the USA any gold of less than 14ch purity cannot be claimed to be gold by the seller. This is the reason that a very large number of gold pocket watch cases are 14ct. So when we talk about gold or suasa, what we're really talking about is a colour difference. That suasa pendok you picked up in last weekend's trash market might be 19ct gold, or it might be brass.