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15th June 2015, 07:35 AM
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#1 | |
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Member
Join Date: Apr 2005
Posts: 3,255
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Hello Ian,
Quote:
 Translation: Small kris of the Moro peoples Mindanao, first half of the 20th century. Curved (i. e. with luk) pamor blade with scroll work (i. e. ricikan) at the base and white brass clamp. [comment: "Raseneisenerzklinge" is an idiosyncratic term of HH's "expert" which doesn't seem to imply more than local production, i. e. forging with visible layers of iron, i. e. pamor...] Hilt with white metal bands and copper wire, and carved ivory/bone pommel. Wooden scabbard with white metal bands. [Total] length 35.5 cm. [14 inches] Provenance: Freiherr von Hochstetter, Düsseldorf [Not sure how much this provenance helps: At least the items attributed to this private collection were above the average seen at these auctions which usually includes quite a bit of Karmadikan pieces. However, also some pieces from this collection seemed to be not antique and possibly cobbled together IMVHO.] This is one of those pieces which one would like to examine personally before deciding to acquire it. The blade didn't appeal to me that much and I decided not to take the risk of bidding from pics (as obviously did others, too). In the worst case, I missed out on an antique ivory pommel with genuine silver and suasa fittings... Note that the base of the blade includes pretty unusual ricikan: the gangya (at the gandik side) has those lines which are fairly rare in Indo keris while they are even emphasised with Moro kris. However, these don't look like Moro craftsmanship to me. Moreover, for the kembang kacang an unusually large opening seems to have cut. Thus, I'm not convinced that this is an Indo keris blade with localised fittings. This might rather be a Moro attempt to mimic an Indo keris blade? Regards, Kai Last edited by kai; 16th June 2015 at 12:57 AM. Reason: auction house rather than action house ;) |
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15th June 2015, 08:50 AM
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#2 |
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Member
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Germany
Posts: 525
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""Raseneisenerzklinge" is an idiosyncratic term of HH's "expert" which doesn't seem to imply more than local production, i. e. forging with visible layers of iron, i. e. pamor."
--- Raseneisenerz is bog iron / Limonite (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bog_iron) or in german (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raseneisenstein). Regards, Roland Last edited by Roland_M; 15th June 2015 at 11:39 AM. |
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16th June 2015, 01:40 AM
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#3 | |
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Member
Join Date: Apr 2005
Posts: 3,255
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Hello Roland,
Quote:
There is no doubt that bog iron deposits were utilised, too. However, after the necessary "washing" of the iron during preparations for forging, it would become very tough to differentiate the actual origin of the iron, especially for quality blades with extensively washed iron. Considering the indiscriminate use of the term by HH (including Karmadikan pieces - cp. the catalogs), I highly doubt that there's any special expertise on iron ore origin at work... Regards, Kai |
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16th June 2015, 01:56 AM
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#4 |
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Vikingsword Staff
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 6,347
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My 2 cents; the blade strikes me on sight as Indonesian in origin; kind of in the style of early east Java but not very old .
I could see possibly a Moro attempt, except the pamor construction and control is too Java-Madura in style IMO to be Moro .  Maybe a marriage of new and old(er) . Last edited by Rick; 16th June 2015 at 02:10 AM. |
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18th June 2015, 01:42 AM
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#5 |
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EAAF Staff
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Louisville, KY
Posts: 7,310
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Rick that is what I am thinking - a marriage. I will say Kai, that in general I would agree with you, however, for a wealthy datu, he would probably be able to afford a better Indonesian (East Javan?) blade.
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Hybrid Mode
