Bugis keris

[rasdan]

There is a possibility that the holes are purposely made. Theres a javaneese dapur with both sogokan pierced through. I dont remember the name however. In the case of talismanic values, i believe the one mentioned in Van Duuren's book is "Combong". This one, IMHO is not combong. Combong happens when the lamination of a vertical pamor is not good enough. ie low heat. When it happens to a mlumah pamor, its pengat waja if im not mistaken. Combong is popular only to limited audience of malay collectors. Most Javaneese collecters regard this as a defect and of course reflects on the skill of the empu. Finally, im not sure about the nerjang landep, the pamor seems to be ok to me. If theres any mistake in my understandings, please correct me.

Regards,
Rasdan

[tom hyle]

The holes were 100% certainly made on purpose. There is and has been no question of that. The question is were they there original, or are they an after-market feature, and if an after-market feature (testimony that this is traditional, and the newer filing in them almost "locks" the case for this), were they made in response to a hole worn through in a groove; in order to render it into an artistic/integrated/planned shape (and would someone ever just "up and do" this if there weren't a hole worn thru?).

My info is that real coombong are very deliberately made in the original forging process, and I have very occassionally seen such holes in blades (perhaps combong is technically only one type of such hole). I've been told that gaps that are from flaws in blades get passed off as coombongs, which is not the same as actually being them (though see below). Likewise I have seen gaps etched through in the bottoms of fullers claimed as coombongs, which they are not. This is the first time I have seen them filed out to "go in" with the dapur of the blade (so far as I know, though I have seen other pierced blades where, thinking back now, it's certainly possible), though I have certainly considered the concept.

Heavy corrosion has occured such as could cause such a hole; look again at the deep etched grooves in the blade; fullers are thin in the bottom to start with, and BTW I didn't say anything before, but the edges of this blade have likely been re-ground at some time or they would look ragged after the etches that have produced that surface (could be wrong, but in the photo the etch looks deep and probably repeated)

Consider that usual kris are not made of a single layered billet that could accidentally have a gap running all the way through. They are made in 3 layers, each made individually, and the outer 2 bearing the pamor. So if one is made in one billet (unusual) and has a gap all the way through (unusual) might it not be appropriate to do other than assume that the co-incidence of these twe unusual things is accidental/incidental "mere coincidence"; might not the coincidence itself, and repeatedly seen, while not proving connection and intent, suggest them? In other words, does not the fact that the blade is made in a single fibrous mass that can form a split rather than the usual 3 layers, or if it is 3 layers that are pierced through in a way that would not logically occur from a "cold shut" welding flaw, but would have to be cut deliberately, suggest that the gap is deliberate in such cases? I know I'm being unclear here, but it's all I've got at the moment.....somewhat disorganized thoughts.....

As we've all been passed down the warning that horimono (carvings on Japanese blades) can be a way to conceal/cut off a flaw, so we recieve the warning that a hole presented as a coombong can be an accidental or worn flaw, but we should keep in mind that these possibilities do not in any way suggest that there is no valid "real thing" nor devalue it; this is a point that is far too often lost; I definitely know that horimono get an unwarranted bad name from this basically collector's tale; this exaggeration of a warning of a possibility into a certainty of constant trickery (and I'm sure I've mentioned before that constant thoughts and expectations of trickery seem to be integral to American culture; perhaps this is implied by the combination of republicanism and capitalism; heck, perhaps it's just the humans, but that can of worms is an unneccessary diversion....). It's like this; there could be a mugger or a crazy dog behind the dumpster, so have your eye open, but still you gotta walk down the street......(Or if you're like me you gotta face down that crazy dog and climb up in that box and see what someone thought was trash.... .....)

I think the ganga is worn loose from repeated washings, and the gaps (note they are different in different photos) come from it laying loosely.

Now, to put this all in perspective; that k(e)ris everyone thinks is so laughably awful? OK, the oversheath is obviously from another sheath and doesn't quite fit; otherwise? No idea what y'all are on about

[Bill]

There are some things that are odd with this keris. As Tom pointed out, repeated washing should have left the edges uneven. The keris seems petite, just to thin. The ganja seems to be original, just bent. Where the mendak touches the ganja there is a perfect indention so it fits perfectly. The indention is the same as the height of the characters, too much of a coincidence. A likely senerio: old blade damaged by etching or rust or combination of both; heavy filing to remove damaged edges. The top of the ganja worked to add the characters; small amounts of gold added for effect or even gilding that fell off. Holes filed to cover up damage or to add to the "speciality" of the keris. The sampir fits well, so it must have been made for the blade after its "makeover". The groves are filled with rust and the ganja is too. I have it soaking in pinnapple juice, after I clean & oil it, I'll post some more pics. Even though I think the keris has been "doctored up", I still like it.

[nechesh]

Well, you know Bill, that's the thing about keris. They each have their own personalities and if you are drawn to one you can like it inspite of it's problems. Kinda like people i suppose.
As for the cemplong (combong) issue, i am pretty sure that true cemplong is done intentionally by the empu. It is NOT a forging defect. I believe that Rasdan's ideas on this term are a general misunderstanding. Firstly, i believe there are very few real cemplong keris to be found. This has only perpetuated this misunderstanding since many things that are not cemplong have come to be regarded as so. I don't think van Duuren's example is true cemplong either, which only adds to the confusion when it is being presented by an expert in the field. His example looks to me like it may be a forging flaw. Most of what passes for cemplong is merely the wearing through at the sogokan after years of acid washing. This, however, is not due to a forging flaw, just wear at the naturally thinest point in the keris. I believe that is what happened to Bill's keris and then someone argmented it to even it out and make it look intententional. I have looked at quite a lot of keris in the past few years and have only seen ONE true cemplong in that time. It is currently owned by one of our members, though i would be surprised if he posted photos of it. I would think that a true cemplong keris would be highly prized by a dukun or anyone with a keen interest in the mystical side of keris, including native Javanese.