Not just historical circumstances Dave, but sociological circumstances.
People in restricted circumstances very often lack both financial and cultural resources which allow them to conform to the greater cultural dictates, thus they do the best they can with what they can get.
In the case of keris this can result in some pretty strange combinations, but combinations that do represent the time and the place where they occurred.
There may not be a perceived need at the present time to retain these keris in the form in which they came into our hands, and it is possible that a strong argument could be mounted to put these mix & match keris into culturally mainstream form. However if I reflect upon those keris that I myself have done this with, I do feel that I might have been better advised to keep the keris as I got it and to record the provenance.
Perhaps at the present time this is something for each of us to consider and make his own decisions.
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