My new Palembang kris

David · 2nd February 2022, 01:46 PM

While i have heard some people suggest this hilt could be Durga i see absolutely no evidence or obvious indication that it represents that goddess. Frankly i don't even see any indication that the figure is intended to be female. But i am much more willing to accept the Putri Malu (shy princess) association than Durga. We do see what appears to be a stylized crown on the figure, so probably this was intended to represent a royal figure. Whether male of female i could not say, but the Shy Princess title has been around for a while.
While this selut is a little unusual and perhaps a bit blingy for this modest keris, it does appear to be well made and specifically created for this hilt. The metal appears to be silver if i am not mistaken. The stones could be quartz or the might just be glass. There seems to be a bit too much sparkle for these to be low quality diamonds and i doubt someone would have put high quality diamonds on this selut. The obvious answer to how to solve this question is simply to bring the selut to a jeweler for appraisal. There is no way t tell from your photographs what these actually are.
If this were mine, aside from cleaning the blade i would polish up the silver on that selut. Silver is not meant to appear tarnished on a keris. Also, your wood looks a bit thirsty. I think this keris will clean up nicely. And even if the selut is a bit flashy for the this otherwise humble keris i think i would keep it rather than replace it.

2nd February 2022, 01:46 PM	#4
David Keris forum moderator Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Nova Scotia Posts: 7,217	While i have heard some people suggest this hilt could be Durga i see absolutely no evidence or obvious indication that it represents that goddess. Frankly i don't even see any indication that the figure is intended to be female. But i am much more willing to accept the Putri Malu (shy princess) association than Durga. We do see what appears to be a stylized crown on the figure, so probably this was intended to represent a royal figure. Whether male of female i could not say, but the Shy Princess title has been around for a while. While this selut is a little unusual and perhaps a bit blingy for this modest keris, it does appear to be well made and specifically created for this hilt. The metal appears to be silver if i am not mistaken. The stones could be quartz or the might just be glass. There seems to be a bit too much sparkle for these to be low quality diamonds and i doubt someone would have put high quality diamonds on this selut. The obvious answer to how to solve this question is simply to bring the selut to a jeweler for appraisal. There is no way t tell from your photographs what these actually are. If this were mine, aside from cleaning the blade i would polish up the silver on that selut. Silver is not meant to appear tarnished on a keris. Also, your wood looks a bit thirsty. I think this keris will clean up nicely. And even if the selut is a bit flashy for the this otherwise humble keris i think i would keep it rather than replace it.