Modern keris bethok

[Gustav]

Well, it's time to add two of my favorite pictures.

[milandro]

well, forging of blades it is a flourishing industry in the Indonesian archipelago and there is no shortage of modern blades.

Personally I find the bethok forms very elegant.

I wanted to have one and when it was offered to me from my German correspondent on Bali I took it.

[Gustav]

Most of the lately posted here actually are Jalak Budho.

At least some if not most of blades in my pics will end as "river findings".

Regarding the Keris of Milandro, I would like to add, strangeness of the impression is greatly created by the shape of Gandhik, inspired by the long and thin "false Gandhik" which on Dhapur Sineba blades are found on backside. I constantly find myself thinking I'm looking on a reversed picture of a Keris Dhapur Sineba, but where the normaly Gandhik should be there suddenly is Wadidang and Buntut. A mind twisting experience.

[milandro]

Originally Posted by Gustav

Most of the lately posted here actually are Jalak Budho.

At least some if not most of blades in my pics will end as "river findings".

Regarding the Keris of Milandro, I would like to add, strangeness of the impression is greatly created by the shape of Gandhik, inspired by the long and thin "false Gandhik" which on Dhapur Sineba blades are found on backside. I constantly find myself thinking I'm looking on a reversed picture of a Keris Dhapur Sineba, but where the normaly Gandhik should be there suddenly is Wadidang and Buntut. A mind twisting experience.

Thanks, I see where you are coming from. Yet I can't help finding my kris very attractive (to me) and at the very least it is honestly young and not pretending to be ancient.

About the so called " river findings ", I find they are astonishing obvious fakes, made on purpose to deceive ( but I really don't know who they are deceiving). To me they are like " relic" guitars or cameras made with pre worn-out accents or new hats with burned or soiled bits to pretend and use and age that they don't have. I don't understand it or netter, I do not comprehend it (there is , in my mind a different , I may understand something as something that happens outside me, comprehend involves me " including a concept" within me.

[Rick]

Originally Posted by milandro

About the so called " river findings ", I find they are astonishing obvious fakes, made on purpose to deceive ( but I really don't know who they are deceiving). To me they are like " relic" guitars or cameras made with pre worn-out accents or new hats with burned or soiled bits to pretend and use and age that they don't have. I don't understand it or netter, I do not comprehend it (there is , in my mind a different , I may understand something as something that happens outside me, comprehend involves me " including a concept" within me.

I have the same trouble that you have Milandro. In the West we buy pre-distressed blue jeans, leather jackets and such which are worn in public as some kind of fashion statement for other people to see.
A keris is a private thing to own and not to wear in public to impress.
Gustav has shown us hundreds of new kerises going through the process of artificial aging. I run headlong into the problem for me as a westerner believing that Indonesian peoples are NOT aware of the fact that a vast majority of these ancient keris are not ancient and have been made to deceive. There is no magick or internal spirit (isi?) in these pieces of artificially decaying metal.
I'd like to be able to understand the cultural importance of these counterfeit Tosan Aji.

[David]

Originally Posted by milandro

About the so called " river findings ", I find they are astonishing obvious fakes, made on purpose to deceive ( but I really don't know who they are deceiving).

They are deceiving a great many collectors and many of them are Indonesians. I see these "river finds" proudly posted all the time on social media keris pages by collectors from the region. People want to believe they are real ancient artifacts and so they accept them as such.

[David]

Originally Posted by Gustav

Most of the lately posted here actually are Jalak Budho.

At least some if not most of blades in my pics will end as "river findings".

So these are photos that you took while in Indonesia? Can you tell us anymore about that encounter and what they told you about these blades and their intended futures?

[jagabuwana]

Originally Posted by David

So these are photos that you took while in Indonesia? Can you tell us anymore about that encounter and what they told you about these blades and their intended futures?

Just a better-than-average day combing the banks of the ole Musi river, David!

[David]

Originally Posted by jagabuwana

Just a better-than-average day combing the banks of the ole Musi river, David!

LOL!!!

[A. G. Maisey]

Yeah, these "river finds" are a bit of joke, but if enough people believe just about anything, well, that thing they believe in becomes true.

Culturally I think the significance is helping a few people to stay alive a bit longer, not all that easy to earn enough to keep body & soul together in some places.

But on the subject of shonkdonkery in Indonesia, it is enough to say that if something can be faked, that can be done in Indonesia.

This link has nothing at all to do with keris, but it is only a short article & it is worth reading through.

http://www.ming-wrecks.com/Fakes.html

I have known several people, not Indonesians, but living in Central Jawa, who lived very comfortably for many years by sending Indonesian faked items --- mostly porcelain, & often with barnacles attached --- to auction rooms & dealers all over the world.

[Jean]

Originally Posted by Gustav

Well, it's time to add two of my favorite pictures.

Thank you Gustav, impressive!