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Originally Posted by rasdan
I noticed that there are 3 main types of ivory normally used to make keris hilts. Elephant (with cross hatch), "hippo" (mainly refered to as "gigi ikan" with the dots) and another one with no dots or cross hatch. The third type is normally smaller in size. Probably this is the real "gigi ikan"?  |
Hello Rasdan,
Thank you for the interesting Malaysian perspective. Gigi ikan (fish tooth) should normally refer to the spermwhale tooth (the most common) and dugong tooth/tusk (rarer and smaller in size), and they are known as marine ivory. I am not mentioning walrus ivory as I don't think that it was commonly used in the Malay region.
I checked the book Senjata Pusaka Bugis and found that they described most of the old ivory hilts shown in the book as dugong ivory (and few as elephant ivory), but I have my doubts about it considering the size and curvature of the Bugis hilts.
Regards