Golden keris

BluErf · 14th April 2007, 05:52 AM

Hello Alan,

That is a very rational way of looking at kerises. A bottom-up approach, I'd say.

I start by looking at a keris in totality. The keris must look 'right' to me. That means conforming to standards of 'properness' that has been ingrained into me through what I have learnt, and through my experience from handling kerises. Further to that, I must like the keris before I look any further.

Then, I'd go into the details of each part, the workmanship, the fit with the other parts of the keris. Who made it may not be so important because famous makers can have bad works (sometimes) too.

Finally, when I decide that I like the piece, then I ask about the price. The price would probably have gone through some tacit assessment based on the "gut feel" sum value of the individual parts, but I won't go into the details of how much each part would probably cost. Also, I'd try to recall any 'benchmark' sales of similar pieces and compare the price to that. After all, the price is determined by the market.

Its a rather unstructured process, but I think it works well for me.

BluErf · 14th April 2007, 05:58 AM

All that glitters is not gold - how do we know if the kinatah really contains gold?

I have a picture of an old Javanese sangkelet with old, worn off kinatah on it. That really looked like gold to me, resembling the pale yellow tone of pure gold (I had a pure gold ring for reference). It is shiny for sure, but it has a 'muted' soft shine.

The new kinatah works often look 'hard', and very very yellow, very very shiny. I suppose it is some sort of alloy with gold in it?

14th April 2007, 05:52 AM	#1
BluErf Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Singapore Posts: 1,180	Hello Alan, That is a very rational way of looking at kerises. A bottom-up approach, I'd say. I start by looking at a keris in totality. The keris must look 'right' to me. That means conforming to standards of 'properness' that has been ingrained into me through what I have learnt, and through my experience from handling kerises. Further to that, I must like the keris before I look any further. Then, I'd go into the details of each part, the workmanship, the fit with the other parts of the keris. Who made it may not be so important because famous makers can have bad works (sometimes) too. Finally, when I decide that I like the piece, then I ask about the price. The price would probably have gone through some tacit assessment based on the "gut feel" sum value of the individual parts, but I won't go into the details of how much each part would probably cost. Also, I'd try to recall any 'benchmark' sales of similar pieces and compare the price to that. After all, the price is determined by the market. Its a rather unstructured process, but I think it works well for me.

14th April 2007, 05:58 AM	#2
BluErf Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Singapore Posts: 1,180	All that glitters is not gold - how do we know if the kinatah really contains gold? I have a picture of an old Javanese sangkelet with old, worn off kinatah on it. That really looked like gold to me, resembling the pale yellow tone of pure gold (I had a pure gold ring for reference). It is shiny for sure, but it has a 'muted' soft shine. The new kinatah works often look 'hard', and very very yellow, very very shiny. I suppose it is some sort of alloy with gold in it?