Keris Betok on Ebay

A. G. Maisey · 17th September 2010, 03:04 AM

Battara, keris that purport to be what they are not have been around forever.

Long before either you or I were born.

Museums and noted, published collections have their share of them.

Its taken me most of my life to reach a point where I'm fairly confident I can pick a pretender, but let me emphasise that "fairly confident" . I can be fooled, exactly the same as virtually all the really well known, big-name people have been fooled, including the biggest, most influential and most knowledgeable.

We need to be pretty careful where keris are concerned. One reason why I will not buy on photos from somebody I do not know. Its hard enough to know what you've got when its in your hand, often almost impossible when its not --- unless you have some prior knowledge or experience.

17th September 2010, 03:04 AM	#1
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 7,019	Battara, keris that purport to be what they are not have been around forever. Long before either you or I were born. Museums and noted, published collections have their share of them. Its taken me most of my life to reach a point where I'm fairly confident I can pick a pretender, but let me emphasise that "fairly confident" . I can be fooled, exactly the same as virtually all the really well known, big-name people have been fooled, including the biggest, most influential and most knowledgeable. We need to be pretty careful where keris are concerned. One reason why I will not buy on photos from somebody I do not know. Its hard enough to know what you've got when its in your hand, often almost impossible when its not --- unless you have some prior knowledge or experience.