When is a keris legitimate?

Bjorn · 1st January 2014, 03:26 PM

A difficult question to answer, to be sure. I'm also of the belief that there is no correct answer to this question, and that the answer will depend on one's own beliefs and preferences.

To me, personally, I do believe that the blade should meet a certain standard of quality and that the maker of the keris should have put a certain amount of good effort into creating the blade. This standard of quality is not - and cannot be - a fixed point as it is dependent on the maker as well as the region in which the keris was produced. As such, I do consider kampung keris to be perfectly legitimate but hold a rather dim view of cheap blades that were rushed to market for the sole purpose of providing tourists with cheap souvenirs. Equally, I wouldn't consider pieces of simple metal dressed up in a wrongko for the express purpose of being used at a wedding or other occasion to be legitimate keris either. For these categories I am also partial to designating these as keris-like objects (KLOs) rather than as keris.

According to my own standards, I have no qualms about kemardikan blades (although I do have qualms about some of them being passed of as old blades). In fact, I enjoy how they are yet another step in the evolution of the keris. What matters to me is that they were created with care and that the maker tried to bring out the beauty of the blade to the best of his (or her) ability.

1st January 2014, 03:26 PM	#23
Bjorn Member Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Netherlands Posts: 188	A difficult question to answer, to be sure. I'm also of the belief that there is no correct answer to this question, and that the answer will depend on one's own beliefs and preferences. To me, personally, I do believe that the blade should meet a certain standard of quality and that the maker of the keris should have put a certain amount of good effort into creating the blade. This standard of quality is not - and cannot be - a fixed point as it is dependent on the maker as well as the region in which the keris was produced. As such, I do consider kampung keris to be perfectly legitimate but hold a rather dim view of cheap blades that were rushed to market for the sole purpose of providing tourists with cheap souvenirs. Equally, I wouldn't consider pieces of simple metal dressed up in a wrongko for the express purpose of being used at a wedding or other occasion to be legitimate keris either. For these categories I am also partial to designating these as keris-like objects (KLOs) rather than as keris. According to my own standards, I have no qualms about kemardikan blades (although I do have qualms about some of them being passed of as old blades). In fact, I enjoy how they are yet another step in the evolution of the keris. What matters to me is that they were created with care and that the maker tried to bring out the beauty of the blade to the best of his (or her) ability.