Bali keris advice and thoughts

[A. G. Maisey]

This is a comment on Balinese keris in general, not a comment specifically related to Sid's query.

Most people with a keris interest tend to expect to see a polished finish on a keris that identifies as "Balinese". This is a reasonable expectation, but it is far from a universally correct expectation.

If we consider keris that exist within the Balinese community on Bali we will often find Javanese & other keris that are dressed as Balinese keris. So as a complete kadhutan (low Balinese) or dhuwung (high Balinese) we have a Balinese keris with a Javanese or other blade. Sometimes this blade will have a polished finish, sometimes it will not.

I have a very old Javanese keris that was the pusaka keris of a Den Pasar family, it is a small Javanese Singo Barong keris, and if the blade were to be classified as a Javanese keris it would classify as Majapahit. It is dressed in a very old Balinese Batun Poh wrongko, it has a very old Javanese ivory "raksasa" hilt, and part of a Balinese ivory selut. It is the real thing, absolutely genuine, Balinese pusaka keris. But it is not much like what most collectors would ID as Balinese.

I also have a keris that was once in the possession of the Raja of Badung, this is again a very old keris, in very old, original dress. In form it qualifies as Balinese, but it has the finish that we normally expect to see on a Javanese keris.

Many of the keris that Balinese people consider to be pusaka keris are in fact Javanese keris.

The keris style that collectors identify as the iconic Balinese keris is usually fairly large, elegantly sculpted, finely detailed, with a polished finish to the blade and high contrast material. I believe this style can usually be attributed to South Bali and usually from the 19th century.

The keris scene, on the ground in Bali & Jawa is as I remarked earlier, not quite as cut & dried as we might like to believe.