The visible part of gonjo when Keris sheathed

[David]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

Until March of 2009 I had been of the opinion that Balinese blades were always fitted so that the top of the gonjo was dead level with the top of the wrongko.

In March I was told by a tukang wrongko in Bali, a man of very advanced years, that many of the old wrongkos were made so that the ganja did not completely enter. He had several examples of older keris that bore out what he had told me.

Back in the 1960's I bought a lot of Bali and Lombok keris from an antique dealer in Sydney, whose son was living in Bali running sailing tours around the islands. This son was sending antiques including keris back to his father. I bought most of the keris that he sent back to his father. These keris were in disgusting condition and required complete restoration. I recall that many of them had blades that sat proud of the top of the wrongko. I assumed that these blades were non-original to the wrongkos and in restoration I fitted them neatly to the wrongko.

In retrospect I believe that I erred in doing this and that those blades were fitted in the old fashion, with the ganja sitting proud of the wrongko.

Thanks Alan, interesting information...