My friends flea market Kris

A. G. Maisey · 9th June 2011, 11:28 AM

Rasdan, we need to distinguish between old Madura and recent Madura.

With Filam's keris, we are looking at recent Madura. I've seen a great many blades of this type and quality and for me, its more or less a matter of --- click! it fits the template in my mind. end of story. But even then, I have been wrong when doing this from a pic. I have no doubt that in the cases where I have been wrong, I would not have erred if the blade had been in my hand, but it wasn't, I was looking at internet photos.

However, for old Madura it is no different to deciding on a tangguh for Mataram or anything else. This page in my site gives a reasonable explanation of the indicators that we consider.

http://www.kerisattosanaji.com/keristangguh.html

Probably about all that we can use from a photo is :- pawakan, gandik, point.

The point is long, ie, distance from last luk to point, the gandhik is steeply angled, the pawakan is stiff and too upright , straight awkward gonjo, rotan cross section.

Madura is one of the easier ones to do from a photo, because the gandhik is very steeply angled --- but sometimes its not, and then it becomes impossible to do a tangguh from a photo, you need to hold the blade.

I've said it time and time and time again:- you cannot do tangguh nor learn tangguh from photos and written explanations. Its a guessing game, and the only way to learn the rules of the game is to spend a lot of time with somebody who understands it perfectly and who has access to a lot of good quality keris.

There is no other way.

9th June 2011, 11:28 AM	#5
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 7,019	Rasdan, we need to distinguish between old Madura and recent Madura. With Filam's keris, we are looking at recent Madura. I've seen a great many blades of this type and quality and for me, its more or less a matter of --- click! it fits the template in my mind. end of story. But even then, I have been wrong when doing this from a pic. I have no doubt that in the cases where I have been wrong, I would not have erred if the blade had been in my hand, but it wasn't, I was looking at internet photos. However, for old Madura it is no different to deciding on a tangguh for Mataram or anything else. This page in my site gives a reasonable explanation of the indicators that we consider. http://www.kerisattosanaji.com/keristangguh.html Probably about all that we can use from a photo is :- pawakan, gandik, point. The point is long, ie, distance from last luk to point, the gandhik is steeply angled, the pawakan is stiff and too upright , straight awkward gonjo, rotan cross section. Madura is one of the easier ones to do from a photo, because the gandhik is very steeply angled --- but sometimes its not, and then it becomes impossible to do a tangguh from a photo, you need to hold the blade. I've said it time and time and time again:- you cannot do tangguh nor learn tangguh from photos and written explanations. Its a guessing game, and the only way to learn the rules of the game is to spend a lot of time with somebody who understands it perfectly and who has access to a lot of good quality keris. There is no other way.