Is this a tourist trap or a real deal?

[Roland_M]

I think the hilt is made from fossil walrus ivory and in my opinion it is relative poorly made for Javanese standards.

I found something remarkable on the Wranka. The Wranka seems too short for the blade, so the bottom of the Wranka was cut off and the point of the blade lies free. To hide this, they made a new elongated Pendok.
In my opinion the Wranka was not made for this Keris and is probably older than the blade.


Roland

[David]

Originally Posted by Roland_M

I think the hilt is made from fossil walrus ivory and in my opinion it is relative poorly made for Javanese standards.

I found something remarkable on the Wranka. The Wranka seems too short for the blade, so the bottom of the Wranka was cut off and the point of the blade lies free. To hide this, they made a new elongated Pendok.
In my opinion the Wranka was not made for this Keris and is probably older than the blade.

Fossilized ivory of some sort is indeed a possible material Roland.
I am afraid i do not see any exposed blade at the tip of the sheath though. I do see different colored wood and what it looks like to me is that this is not this is not the original pendok for this gandar and there is now some exposed wood that was once covered by a different pendok. The gandar would probably be the easiest part of a sheath to replace if indeed the blade was too long for the original one so i can't image that someone would do a fix like you have suggested when they could simply add a longer gandar onto the sheath. The problem here seems to be that this pendok is too long and so will not slide up far enough to cover this part of the gandar.