Quote:
Originally Posted by Ganapati
This keris must be really beautiful if you all are
Asking me to deface it by removing its amazing handle and sheath lol
|
Well, it is indeed a nice example of the classic late 19th century Bali keris form.
I can only assume you are kidding about the "amazing handle and sheath" part.
If this were mine i believe the easiest thing to do right off is to replace the hilt. You can certainly find a fairly reasonable bondalan style hilt which would be perfectly acceptable. A nicely carved togogan (figural) hilt can cost quite a bit more, though they are not hard to come by if you want to invest the money.
As a collector living in the Western world replacing sheaths is a much more difficult task. I think we all agree that the atasan of your sheath has some age and is sincerely Balinese. So really the trouble with your dress lies mainly in the gandar treatment. It does seem to me that i can see some wood pattern beneath the string wrap. The string seems a bit loose. Can you gently push it aside to create a window and show us a photo of what lies beneath the string. If there is good wood there, as i stated before, i would simply remove the string. This does still leave the culturally incorrect silver fittings (are these real silver of some other alloy?). You could pull off that bottom piece that ends in a buntet like form and see if the wooden gandar still terminates properly. That shouldn't really cause damage if done properly and could easily be put back in place. If you have a good and complete gandar under these fittings a little refinishing could make this a proper sheath again. If not and you are handy with wood craft, the gandar would be the easiest part of a sheath to craft on your own and make the sheath look legit.