Kris hilt material query

A. G. Maisey · 18th May 2023, 12:56 AM

Sid, this style of keris is not really my prime area of knowledge, so I'll limit my comments to saying that it appears to be of reasonable quality and in reasonable condition. The hilt itself is perhaps the nicest & most valuable component of this item.

However, your note that the scabbard is not original to the blade does prompt me to comment on this element of your description.

Where a keris has been prepared for use as an item of dress it is important that the scabbard should be one that has been made for that specific blade.

However, where a keris has been used in any combat situation it is not at all unusual to find that the blade will not be a perfect fit to the scabbard.

The reason for this is that often under combat conditions a scabbard will have been dropped, lost or discarded when the keris itself was in use. After the period of use a different scabbard was sometimes substituted for the original. We find this situation of a mismatch quite often and particularly with Balinese & Bugis keris.

18th May 2023, 12:56 AM	#7
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,992	Sid, this style of keris is not really my prime area of knowledge, so I'll limit my comments to saying that it appears to be of reasonable quality and in reasonable condition. The hilt itself is perhaps the nicest & most valuable component of this item. However, your note that the scabbard is not original to the blade does prompt me to comment on this element of your description. Where a keris has been prepared for use as an item of dress it is important that the scabbard should be one that has been made for that specific blade. However, where a keris has been used in any combat situation it is not at all unusual to find that the blade will not be a perfect fit to the scabbard. The reason for this is that often under combat conditions a scabbard will have been dropped, lost or discarded when the keris itself was in use. After the period of use a different scabbard was sometimes substituted for the original. We find this situation of a mismatch quite often and particularly with Balinese & Bugis keris.