keris for comment

[Montino Bourbon]

It's very interesting to hear the debate on whether a piece is 'real', 'genuine', 'has chi', and so forth.

Years ago, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York aquired some Etruscan sculptures that were some of the most beautiful that anyone had ever seen. It was said of these sculptures, which included a famous head of a warrior which is still in some texts as a classic, that they had 'Clearly the Etruscan Magic"!

Years later, the Italian who had made them (!) came forward and admitted that he had made them; and being an artist as well as a freak, he had prayed over them and done ceremony before burying them, and imbued them with 'chi'.

I have seen keris made recently, including a piece made in the USA, which are outstanding, and which I am sure a rajah or a great leader in Indonesia would consider worthy of owning. I have also seen old keris which I would consider trash.

As I have said before, if I like it and I hold it in my hand, it's got plenty of chi; but I would refer you to an article called

What Makes a Weapon "Magickal"?
A Cross-Cultural Survey of Empowering Characteristics

Ruel A. Macaraeg

as for 'real' vs. 'fake' even the so-called 'experts' cannot agree on many things. Yes, there is expertise, but if you like a piece of art you like it, whether it's old or new; and new pieces are made which are equal in quality and chi to old ones. Take it from a Roman born in Rome; that which is new today becomes very soon old, and we don't have much of an idea of what previous civilizations have accomplished.