Kubur, I thank you for your very knowledgeable and perceptive comments, I believe you are expert in your own field and I have absolutely no desire at all to challenge your deep knowledge in this field.
However, I do have a very limited understanding of Javanese society, culture, anthropology, art and history, I qualify my understanding as "very limited" because I have only been involved in study of Jawa for about 60 or so years, and in truth, that is just not long enough to have a complete & thorough understanding of the things in which I have an interest.
My Javanese mentors have been palace armourers (empu) for the Kraton Surakarta Hadiningrat, and my association with these men lasted in one case for 15 years, and in the other case for around 40 years. Apart from these two men I have had long professional and personal association with a number of artists & craftsmen & dealers in the field of tosan aji for about 50 years.
When we come to consider the pedang that is the subject of this thread the fact of the matter is that I sold it to Mr. McDougal in the first place, and there is absolutely no doubt at all in my mind as to what this particular sword is.
I have seen many similar items over the years, and identification of it is about as difficult for me as the identification of a Toyota motor vehicle might be for some other people:- the Toyota has certain identifying characteristics, things like the names on the rear of the vehicle & badges on the front. For somebody in my position this pedang also has identifying characteristics.
Some things can be beliefs, other things can be fact. In the case of this pedang I am not talking about what my beliefs may be, I am talking about fact. Whether you or anybody else wishes to accept that fact is completely your choice.
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