Best sources for seeing,handling & purchasing Keris ?

Naga Basuki · 5th February 2005, 12:14 PM

Is it appropriate to mention dealers I like?

I have bought many pieces from them. I would recommend them as keris dealers and men of integrity.

I will wait for a staff response from Viking Sword, but I will send the names to Sang Keris privately.

Battara · 5th February 2005, 02:41 PM

Speaking of eBay and kris (Moro), books and handling are the best ways to tell authenticity. I never buy anything I haven't researched. This means that I pass up things sometimes, but then again, I have only been burned once.

Also, this helps in what to look for, say, when the pictures are bad. If you look at my avatar picture, the blade is WWII, but the hilt that you see is older and made of silver, swaasa (gold, copper, silver mix), and ivory. I got this puppy on eBay several years ago for.....dirt (less than $400 and I don't plan on selling it

). No one else bid on it because the pictures were aweful. However, I could tell enough about the metal work and ivory to be the only one to bid and won!

Again, research helped me out on this to see beyond the terrible picture (and the dealer was honest).

Boswego · 5th February 2005, 03:52 PM

In the first year of eBay a lot of Dealers used to get amazing deals from naive sellers.They'd find mispelled items like 'Tiffeny' (instead of Tiffany),or 'Caris Sord',etc,and get some great deals.You can still find some very nice new & old Ethnographic Art there.Native American artifact prices (generally pre-1940) have gone flat-out insane.Being a rookie-the only thing I can really judge a Keris & Kris by would be the quality of craftsmanship and design (new or old piece)-NOT by how bizarre or flashy it is.

Boswego · 5th February 2005, 03:58 PM

Gents-Is it OK to privately Email Forumites to get trusted Internet Dealer names (all will be held blameless,of course,if I got burned)?

Rick · 5th February 2005, 05:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boswego

Gents-Is it OK to privately Email Forumites to get trusted Internet Dealer names (all will be held blameless,of course,if I got burned)?

Most certainly Boswego .

nechesh · 5th February 2005, 06:54 PM

In defense of Rick's statement i will say that i believe at least 95% of the keris dealers who sell regularly on eBay from the Indonesian/Malay area are con men!!! They attempt to sell newly made keris as old pieces. Sometimes they are actually selling fairly high quality new pieces and i think they might be more successful if they were smart enough to employ a bit of honesty. As Rick stated, he PURPOSEFULLY collects new pieces, as do many others, but i am sure he has no desire to collect from a dealer who would attempt to deceive him on the tangguh of a blade and therefore prefers to buy his new keris from someone who sells it as a new keris.
Now, he's your out gentlemen, i can think of a very few eBay keris dealers who ARE honest and upstanding dealers. Maybe you are one of them.

But believe me, they are few and far between.I will not name them here, the good or the bad. I have no desire to disparage anyones name nor do i intend to do a commercial advertisement for the good ones. I strongly believe that a certain number of less scrupulous dealers do operate here on this forum in order to subtly solicite sales and/or manipulate our thinking on the subject. Call me paranoid if you will.

Frankly i don't care. I know who you are and your actions are being less and less tolerated on this forum. I would like to see us return to more civil and academic discussion of keris on this forum. Dealers are, of course, welcome to join in that discussion, but let's all stop playing games with each other, eh?

I would personally welcome your input and knowledge, but not when it is formulated to manipulate sales for yourself or your friends. And believe me when i say some of you have been all too obvious about this
Now DhenTal, you wrote:
"I can suppose whose the dealer in Singapore that what you mean, but I don't say in this great forum.
I just tell you that in his site, he posted some a new kris too (indeed fake) that he said it was old piece and made by good iron... but, I don't think so.
Don't you guess that him kris, spesifically javanese kris, is a great kris.
For me, some of him javanese kris just a fake kris which sell for high price."

We are not stupid here, and while you are "supposing" so is everyone else. We all know the on-line dealer you are talking about and i find your unnamed attack on him to be far worse than anything Rick suggested because you, sir, are singling out a specific dealer and disbaraging his good name. And you give NO FACTS to support your claim. That you haven't actually used his name does not matter since many if not all of us here are smart enough to know just who you mean and i don't believe you will find much sympathy among your fellow forumites for this attack on a very well respected forumite.

Boswego, i would be more than happy to send you a list of good dealers, so check for a message soon.

Andrew · 5th February 2005, 10:40 PM

And with Nechesh's well-taken comments and observations, I will close this thread. This is a record for me, gentlemen. I dislike locking threads.

Keris thread funtime is over. Either you are here to contribute in a meaninful fashion, or you won't be here. In the future, posting privileges will simply be removed for abuse of this forum.

5th February 2005, 03:58 PM	#4
Boswego Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 23	Rick,Naga,Dhen-OK to use private Email for Dealer names ? Gents-Is it OK to privately Email Forumites to get trusted Internet Dealer names (all will be held blameless,of course,if I got burned)?

5th February 2005, 12:14 PM	#1
Naga Basuki Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Big old machine shop/foundry/warehouse in Atlanta GA USA Posts: 51	Is it appropriate to mention dealers I like? I have bought many pieces from them. I would recommend them as keris dealers and men of integrity. I will wait for a staff response from Viking Sword, but I will send the names to Sang Keris privately.

5th February 2005, 02:41 PM	#2
Battara EAAF Staff Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Louisville, KY Posts: 7,345	Speaking of eBay and kris (Moro), books and handling are the best ways to tell authenticity. I never buy anything I haven't researched. This means that I pass up things sometimes, but then again, I have only been burned once. Also, this helps in what to look for, say, when the pictures are bad. If you look at my avatar picture, the blade is WWII, but the hilt that you see is older and made of silver, swaasa (gold, copper, silver mix), and ivory. I got this puppy on eBay several years ago for.....dirt (less than $400 and I don't plan on selling it ). No one else bid on it because the pictures were aweful. However, I could tell enough about the metal work and ivory to be the only one to bid and won! Again, research helped me out on this to see beyond the terrible picture (and the dealer was honest).

5th February 2005, 03:52 PM	#3
Boswego Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 23	In the first year of eBay a lot of Dealers used to get amazing deals from naive sellers.They'd find mispelled items like 'Tiffeny' (instead of Tiffany),or 'Caris Sord',etc,and get some great deals.You can still find some very nice new & old Ethnographic Art there.Native American artifact prices (generally pre-1940) have gone flat-out insane.Being a rookie-the only thing I can really judge a Keris & Kris by would be the quality of craftsmanship and design (new or old piece)-NOT by how bizarre or flashy it is.

5th February 2005, 06:54 PM	#6
nechesh Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 940	In defense of Rick's statement i will say that i believe at least 95% of the keris dealers who sell regularly on eBay from the Indonesian/Malay area are con men!!! They attempt to sell newly made keris as old pieces. Sometimes they are actually selling fairly high quality new pieces and i think they might be more successful if they were smart enough to employ a bit of honesty. As Rick stated, he PURPOSEFULLY collects new pieces, as do many others, but i am sure he has no desire to collect from a dealer who would attempt to deceive him on the tangguh of a blade and therefore prefers to buy his new keris from someone who sells it as a new keris. Now, he's your out gentlemen, i can think of a very few eBay keris dealers who ARE honest and upstanding dealers. Maybe you are one of them. But believe me, they are few and far between.I will not name them here, the good or the bad. I have no desire to disparage anyones name nor do i intend to do a commercial advertisement for the good ones. I strongly believe that a certain number of less scrupulous dealers do operate here on this forum in order to subtly solicite sales and/or manipulate our thinking on the subject. Call me paranoid if you will. Frankly i don't care. I know who you are and your actions are being less and less tolerated on this forum. I would like to see us return to more civil and academic discussion of keris on this forum. Dealers are, of course, welcome to join in that discussion, but let's all stop playing games with each other, eh? I would personally welcome your input and knowledge, but not when it is formulated to manipulate sales for yourself or your friends. And believe me when i say some of you have been all too obvious about this Now DhenTal, you wrote: "I can suppose whose the dealer in Singapore that what you mean, but I don't say in this great forum. I just tell you that in his site, he posted some a new kris too (indeed fake) that he said it was old piece and made by good iron... but, I don't think so. Don't you guess that him kris, spesifically javanese kris, is a great kris. For me, some of him javanese kris just a fake kris which sell for high price." We are not stupid here, and while you are "supposing" so is everyone else. We all know the on-line dealer you are talking about and i find your unnamed attack on him to be far worse than anything Rick suggested because you, sir, are singling out a specific dealer and disbaraging his good name. And you give NO FACTS to support your claim. That you haven't actually used his name does not matter since many if not all of us here are smart enough to know just who you mean and i don't believe you will find much sympathy among your fellow forumites for this attack on a very well respected forumite. Boswego, i would be more than happy to send you a list of good dealers, so check for a message soon.

5th February 2005, 10:40 PM	#7
Andrew Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: USA Posts: 1,725	And with Nechesh's well-taken comments and observations, I will close this thread. This is a record for me, gentlemen. I dislike locking threads. Keris thread funtime is over. Either you are here to contribute in a meaninful fashion, or you won't be here. In the future, posting privileges will simply be removed for abuse of this forum.