Sort Of OT : Do You Ever Wonder

[Rick]

That's an interesting take Federico but I've never seen a signed kris or keris ; they tend to be judged on workmanship and materials alone .

[Federico]

Originally Posted by Rick

That's an interesting take Federico but I've never seen a signed kris or keris ; they tend to be judged on workmanship and materials alone .

Thats the rub, particularly with ethnographic pieces and custom jobs. Ive seen some very nice custom work, but in the end the quality was not necessarily leaps and bounds above what a good smith of the day could make, but yet the price (due to the fame of the smith) was light years beyond what such a piece could garner. I remember trying to commission a plain battle kris a number years back, and almost every quote I got was in the thousands, when at the time even the most pristine kris be-decked in rare materials would not even draw the low end quotes in prices. I suppose itll depend on how the market changes between the two fields, whether one will rise or the other will fall. But since the custom jobs have so much more room to fall, and well I havent heard any big plans for a major Hollywood movie to feature kris or dha, I do not expect a major spike in prices for most ethnographic weapons, and as such well when youre on the bottom there aint much room to fall but when your on a lofty peak its a helluva drop.