[satsujinken]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

This is what we call a "Keris Buda", or a keris of the form that was present in the Buda period of Jawa, that is, the Javanese-Hindu period, both Early Classical and Late Classical.

This type of keris has usually been found buried, often with other objects of value, such as bronze statuettes or bronze bells.Sometimes one or more of the other objects will have corroded into almost nothing whilst one object will be almost untouched by corrosion. It should be noted that pure iron tends to be much less affected by corrosion than impure iron or iron containing carbon (steel).

this is a very enlightening information, Thank you very much
so basically the story checked - as it was found buried, perhaps as part of upacara / ritual for the rice field ? to yield a good harvest or something ?

now there is another information from the seller I would like to share

he said that this blade cannot be stained (warangi), as the color remains the same (stone like) - is this common for the type of metal ??

I mean does this means that the keris is made with "rather primitive" technology, before they put pamor into it and still using pure iron instead of steel ?

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

However --- in recent years some very good reproductions of this type of keris have been floating around. For at least 30 years there has been a gentleman, and probably his son, working in the Malang-Singosari area who have produced very fine deliberate forgeries. When I say "deliberate" what I mean is that in this case the maker has set out to produce an object intended to deceive. Usually it is the middle men who turn perfectly good new keris into forgeries, but in the case of this type of keris, if it has been produced by these extremely skilled gentlemen, they set out to deceive from the moment they lit the forge fire. Even before, because they would have searched out the correct iron for the job, not such an impossible task in Jawa.

errr ... Malang is my hometown ... and I am very curious on where did they make replica of older keris in Singosari (18 km from Malang), as I travel back to Malang every weekend

could you elaborate the address or the approximate location ?
it will be very delightful to see how people make reproduction of old keris

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

If this keris is genuine it should be very, very highly priced. Everybody who deals in keris and other antiques in Jawa knows the value of these blades. They do not come cheap. If this keris is relatively affordable it is very probably not the real thing.

It is absolutely impossible for me to give an opinion on authenticity from a photograph.

I do have a small collection of Keris Buda, currently 8 or 10 pieces, of which possibly two are not from the Buda period. I have seen and handled a lot more, and have focussed my attention on this keris form almost exclusively since the early 1980's.

I will try to contact the seller and let you know the result
and if I managed to ask for more pictures, could you help me by informing what should I look at as indicators of fraud ?