My Bugis keris

[kai]

Hello Johan,

Welcome! That's certainly a better start to keris collecting than many out there!

BTW, what is the blade size for this keris?

19th c. seems like a good guess for this piece; it is certainly a good idea to try to obtain as much info as possible when acquiring such a piece from local sources (still remember to buy the keris rather than the story - however, if you don't ask, chances are that possibly valuable info may get lost).


I'm pretty much with Gustav here:

Perhaps not over cleaned, yet the blade tip has been re-sharpened an is a little bit awkward now.

Sirah Cecak has received a "beump" (quotation Inspector Clouzot)

I would say, more likely Riau then Sulawesi. That Pendokok we encounter also in M. Peninsula.

The blade does look like a Riau or Malacca Straits piece and could well be from the Indonesian or the Malay coast (with likelihood being higher for eastern Sumatran regions IMHO).

This is not a blade that really asks for warangan staining like Jean's example. At least it's pretty obvious that the general approach of the originating culture was to gently repolish these blades when cleaning (and possibly staining) them. Thus, a fairly smooth blade with topographic etching is not necessarily overcleaned. However, as Gustav already pointed out, Nik does have a point in this case and I guess that a former owner did work over the blade with sandpaper and did over"polish" the exposed ridges, especially at the tip. Removing metal is something that is also commonly done in the originating culture(s) when trying to revamp an aged/worn blade; however, it needs to be done with sufficient expertise as not to look off...

Regards,
Kai

[A. G. Maisey]

Yes Johan, Alan will do just fine.

I'm not going to comment much on this keris.

My focus for many years has been the attempt to gain an understanding of the keris in Javanese/Balinese societies, and an understanding of the keris in these societies tends to create an opinion that places the keris in other keris bearing societies into a very different realm.

Any keris is certainly a very collectable object, and it is probable that most people who take part in this Forum are collectors, so the opinions already received, and those that may follow can be accepted as valid opinions of practicing collectors.

I will reserve my comments on this occasion.