It is indeed a beautiful piece; the blade is a good blade, and all of the dress outstanding, congratulations!
In my mind it was certainly worth the 8 year old journey, it is breathtaking.
Regarding your statement quote: Just in case some fellow forumnite is wondering why the ganja is sticking out a bit - we had a discussion thread a short while ago that concluded Balinese blades are supposed to sit a little tall on the sheath. So here it is... unquote.
I am a little concerned that someone out there will take the statement to heart and decide that unless the blade is sitting a little tall on the sheath it is not a correct Bali/Lombok piece. That would be rather unfortunate as the evidence clearly show that Bali/Lombok keris can be legitimately mounted in either way.
As a back up to my humble statement I will invite you to visit the Tropenmuseum’s Bali collection and the Bali collection at Volkenkunde in Leiden, here you will find most of the pieces in their collections flush with the sheath, that evidence is overwhelming. Add that to the Djelenga book Keris di Lombok where the result is the same, and I am afraid we cannot say that it is a foregone conclusion that Bali/Lombok blades are supposed to sit a little tall on the sheath.
That said I really like the look of your piece, and with that I wish that more of mine have that look as well. But I gather that was left in the creative hands the tukang wrongko who did the scabbard.
As I mentioned there is no wrong way both scenarios are legitimate.
