New Keris/Keris baru

[Jean]

Alan,
Thank you for your reply and I understand your reasons for not naming the maker, but congratulations to him and to you!
Thank you also for killing the myth about meteoritic iron which is used by many sellers but without any proven evidence.
Best regards

[dbhmgb]

Alan,

Thank you for the pictures of that fantastic keris.

It's fascinating how the use of meteoritic iron is so tightly woven into the legend of the keris. It's all these myths and legends that, even though they're mostly debunked, make the keris such an alluring object.

Dan

[David]

Originally Posted by Jean

Thank you also for killing the myth about meteoritic iron which is used by many sellers but without any proven evidence.

Jean, i think that the myth about meteoric iron and keris was killed years ago for those with ears to hear, but that will never stop unscrupulous or ignorant sellers from continuing to use this misinformation to hawk their wares.
If you have not seen this extensive thread from back in 2005 you will probably find it of interest.
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...eteorite+keris

[Jean]

David,
Thanks for referring me to this interesting thread, I do not remember it as I was still a kid at that time
Regards

[David]

Originally Posted by Jean

David,
Thanks for referring me to this interesting thread, I do not remember it as I was still a kid at that time
Regards

Yep, i thought it might be from before your time...

[Rick]

Since the thread started with one .
This work always gives me great pleasure when it is examined/studied.

The wrongko is like a thunderstorm portrayed in woodgrain .

I will call this a 'good keris' ; I'm proud to be its keeper in my lifetime .
My Son will receive it someday .

[rasdan]

G'day Alan,

When I started out collecting, I go for a quality old keris. Quality comes first since if we screwed up on its age, we still have quality. Nowadays, quality and age still plays a role, but there's a bit of an addition. I just keep what I like; for a keris may have all the quality and age, but if i didn't like it, I wont keep it. What others think about it does not matter since I'm the one that will be looking at it day after day. Well, keris collecting had started to sound like living with our significant other isn't it?

I found both yours and Rick's keris very handsome looking keris and I love them both. My questions are:

1. How do we measure quality? For instance, your keris have a different ratio of sorsoran width to its length when compared to Rick's keris. The sekar kacang is also different. (It's entirely different probably) How does the shape of the ricikan justifies quality?

2. If we take tangguh as age, how can we apply the quality measures to keris with different tangguh? If we take tangguh as style of keris, can we still use the same parameters?

My questions are probably circling around the same thing. It reflects how confused I am right now.

Best regards,
Rasdan

[Jean]

Originally Posted by Rick

This work always gives me great pleasure when it is examined/studied.

The wrongko is like a thunderstorm portrayed in woodgrain .

I will call this a 'good keris' ; I'm proud to be its keeper in my lifetime .
My Son will receive it someday .

Hi Rick,
I agree that this is a very good keris kamardikan, may be the work from Mpu Sukamdi?
Regards

[rasdan]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

Timo

Are the sculptures of Michelangelo Buonarroti generally regarded as work of exceptionally high quality?

If yes, why is this so?

Thank you for your reply Alan.

I think because it resembles the real thing very closely and a lot people say that it is of high quality (generally looks good)? But in human sculptures, we know exactly how its supposed to look like.

Well, ok, I think I'm starting to get some idea here. If I add an extra ricikan to a keris, it may look nice and a lot of people will think it is nice, but it can not be considered valid since the pakem (of the Javanese keris) is being decided by the keraton and therefore they are the one that can say or set the benchmark that this according to the specs or not...

But still, we probably can only use the current specification for keris that were made, say, 1800s and above? Probably for older ones the quality are not so much on shape (probably judged by how many people thinks it looks good), but measured by material, forging skill etc.?