You ask some very valid questions here, both Jens and Alan. How do we define the term "research". I generally attempt to find out what i can about any keris i collect, but i'm not sure it is fair to call it research per se, certainly not by any academic standard. I am fairly limited is my resources for one. I can attempt to draw knowledge from the many books i own on the subject (and related subjects of Indonesian cultures) and quite frankly depend on the "kindness of strangers" that i might feel are wiser or better informed on the subject than i to broaden my understanding. But if by "research", Jens, you mean real
field research i am afraid i do not have the time, money or resources to fly to Indonesia and really study the keris in the manner that a full accounting of the subject deserves. To truly research keris as i believe it should be done i should probably learn the Javanese language for one and make regular trips to the region to get closer to the source of my study. Yes, i do ask others both on the forum and outside of it about keris, others who i have come to trust for their much greater knowledge of the subject and hopefully i learn and retain what i am told and possibly even use that gained knowledge to formulate my own theories and ideas from time to time. But i am afraid that it is not really within my means to write a dissertation on the subject that would be worthy of sharing with my fellow collectors on this forum and i don't really feel that it is the responsibility of members here to produce research of that type for the benefit of the forums as a whole. Of course, if you do, it would certainly be nice if you share it. I do what i can and may argue a question based more upon a developed sense of logic about the subject than any hard dug research. I am more than sure that we don't know nearly as much as we should about these weapons. I have plenty of questions and not nearly enough answers. But i do believe that asking the right questions can be almost as valuable as providing the right answers sometimes. So perhaps it might be fair to say that i study keris more that i actually research them.
I am not convinced that my collection of keris could ever be a "miscellaneous pile of pointy things". These weapons hold far too much beauty and excellence of craft to ever be deemed as such. They have "personalities" which elevate them beyond the status of mere objects for me. However, my appreciation of them certainly increases exponentially with each bit of new information i gain about them.
