One little thing I think I'd like to comment on, I emphasise "comment", I'm not interested in debating or arguing the point, I'm just expressing a personal opinion, accept if you will, reject if you will. Makes no difference to me either way.
Sixty or so years ago I would have accepted the idea of "fake" keris without a moment's thought. I would accept that anything with value could be presented as something that it was not and thus it had become a fake, the usual & obvious motivator for creation of a fake being to increase value.
Over the years my attitude has undergone some change.
I still think that there can be keris that have been deliberately falsified in one way or another to make them more valuable and more attractive to a potential buyer. However, my parameters for assessing a keris to be "fake" have altered.
The things that make a keris "fake" for most collectors who are outside core keris culture do not necessarily make a keris "fake" for somebody who is a part of that culture.
For example, going back 20-30 years the wise collectors of keris who were outside core keris culture would immediately identify as "fake" a keris that presented evidence of comparatively recent manufacture, but also appeared to have a slightly eroded finish to the blade surface. The overwhelming opinion amongst these experienced, knowledgeable collectors who were not a part of core keris culture was that such a keris was a deliberate fake, there had been an attempt to make it look old when in fact it was not. The evil forgers were at it again, trying to rip off the unwary.
As time has passed the truth of the matter has emerged from Darkest Jawa Tengah, and most collectors of keris now, whether experienced or not, seem to have become aware that the eroded blade surface on a recently made blade is something that is certainly done intentionally, and for a very good reason:- the biggest market for new keris is the local market in Indonesia, the keris is a required part of formal dress in many parts of Indonesia and there are only so many old keris to go around, so just like neckties, new keris need to be continually produced for local buyers, and the local market wants that slightly eroded finish. The customer is always right, so you give the customer what he wants --- at least you do if you want to stay in business.
The fact that collectors of keris who are outside the core keris culture consider that slightly eroded surface as an attempt at forgery is of absolutely no interest to the makers whose primary market is the local one.
There are many similar examples that could be quoted, but the simple fact is this:- as one learns more about the keris it becomes obvious that a number of things that are acceptable or desired by the local buyers of keris in Jawa & other places where the keris is a part of the culture, are things that for buyers outside that local market, are things that are regarded as fake, or forgery, or highly undesirable.
It is a matter of the applicable standard. Very often collectors from a different cultural base will have different standards for objects from a culture that is not their own to the standard that actually applies within the other culture.
Collectors make their own rules that apply to their own ideas of what should, and should not be regarded as authentic.
Now, be all of the above as it may.
Yes, there are definitely deliberate keris forgeries floating around, and believe me, they are very, very difficult to detect.
But almost nobody in the general collector market is ever going to have to worry about these forgeries, quite simply because the prices on these genuine forgeries are so high that they are beyond the means of most people. The real forgeries are priced about in line with motor vehicles, the lower priced ones are at about the level of a good used Toyota with low mileage, the higher priced ones are at about new Mercedes Benz level.
True forgeries are not designed to rip somebody off to the tune of ten or twenty bucks, or even a couple of hundred, they are intended to rip somebody off to the tune of around 10K to over 100K.
I really don't think that we need to worry too much about forged dates on things kicking around down at the bottom of the market.
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