Shadow Keris

[BluErf]

The traditional way of making a keris blade and the accompanying dress parts does take an immense amount of time and effort! I suppose using power tools and industrial quality metal is acceptable in the making of a modern keris, but then the question is when does the grinding of a piece of metal blank into the shape of a keris turn into proper keris making? I must admit I'm not clear about this myself, but seeing the mass-market new pieces commonly found in the Malay keris market now, they certainly do feel more like KLOs than real new kerises.

Regarding the really good new Malay kerises, Shahrial's recent comments made me sit up and try to take note of what's around. So far, I've only seen 1 example which I would consider as good. Perhaps it would also be useful to post examples of what is considered a good new Malay keris to share that standard. It would also be useful as a yardstick for collectors to know what is the best available out there.

To start that off, I post the following pictures, taken from a fellow Facebook acquaintance's photo album, of the good new Malay keris (apologies, I cannot remember who is the owner of the pictures and the keris). I must clarify that I'm only referring to the blade, and not the fittings.