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Old 11th January 2008, 09:41 PM   #8
A. G. Maisey
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Join Date: May 2006
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In counting the waves in a blade you start on the first wave above the gandik and criss-cross the blade, finishing on the same side that you started. The total must be uneven. Even in the exceptionally rare style of keris where the point turns to the wadidang, it is best to add a nominal luk to give the required uneven number. A keris is male. Even numbers are female. This blade has 11 waves, and the tenth wave is not difficult to see.

I do not think that the kembang kacang has been replaced or repaired. In the close-up the metal grain is quite distinct, but there does seem to be some sort of a score across the base of the kembang kacang on one side.

I have had in my possession a number of keris of this generic Bugis style that had the hilt orientated as is the hilt on this keris. In all cases they had been fixed that way in the culture from which they came, as they had been fixed with damar, and were in original condition. I have also seen a photo of somebody wearing a keris of this style with the hilt on "back to front". I have no idea why they were sometimes fixed in this way, but they were.

Exact area of origin?

I have no idea. Generically it is Bugis, but Bugis from where? Don't know. I will observe that it does not display the typical Bugis blade cross section, so it unlikely to be Sulawesi. Peninsula? North Coast Sumatra? Anybody's guess is as good as mine.

Age? Looks second half 19th century to me, but that is just opinion, and cannot be backed up with analysis a la tangguh, as we can do with Jawa blades.

All in all, I reckon its a pretty decent old piece. If the hilt is loosely fixed , ie, held by tension only, twist it around. If it is not, leave it as it is. There are precedents. Here is an example.
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