A Banjarmasin keris

[A. G. Maisey]

Intan are from the same raw material as diamonds, but they are rose cut diamonds, not brilliant cut diamonds. Brilliant cut diamonds are called berlian, rose cut diamonds are called intan.

Intan have the same range of colour as any other diamond, and can be yellowish, or blueish, some even seem to be almost black. But as I said previously, they are always quite brilliant and give off a very hard, cutting light.

Intan are not something that is exclusive to keris culture. It is a type of diamond, it is found in all sorts of jewellery, and it lends its name to shops and other businesses.

Sorry I didn't make this clear before, I was homing in on the quality question. Intan is not an indicator of quality, it is an indicator of cut.

I do not know if quartz crystal is the same as rock crystal. It probably is, because at lapidary shows we see big lumps of clear quartz, and smokey quartz and rose quartz. I only know yakut as rock crystal, and it is the same material that is used in Indo Persian rock crystal dagger hilts.