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Keris and meteorite falls

Hi everybody - 
     My apologies for being so late in responding - the e-mail here has 
been working intermittently since last wednesday - 
     I do not know much about the commercial value of keris, except that 
the price can range from $100 for tourist knick-knacks to $50,000 for 
heirloom quality pieces.  The best site I have found is Paul's Keris 
Page at http://home1.pacific.net.sg/~dspf/, and the owner of it gives 
his e-mail address, so you might try there.  Dr. Stein's page on 
Japanese swords is at http://www.gemlink.com/~rstein/nihonto.htm, and he 
also gives his e-mail address.
     Best response I recieved was from Joseph Murakami, who wrote:"
Meanwhile, the Prambana meteorite of Surakarta, Java, Indonesia, is a 
meter-sized specimen set in it's own little kiosk or gazebo adjacent to 
the main palace structure on the grounds of the Imperial palace.  Found 
in 1797, the sultans of Solo at Soerkarta preserved the 
Prambanan meteoritic iron for the specific use of making kris.  Five 
kris were presented to the Emperor of Austria in 1907, and the kamacite 
and taenite figures furnished the background for the damascus -type 
pattern seen in those special kris."
     While the Prambanan meteorite was found in 1797, the production of 
kris goes back much further, some think to the 8th century A.D..  
Prambanan, the site of the 1797 find, is the site of a large temple 
complex built in the 800's A.D., and according to legend a "slender 
virgin" turned to stone there.  
      Alternatively, some claim that the original home of the kris was
the Northern Malay states, now a southern province of Thailand, and  
especially "magic" keris known as keris patani come from there.  So 
perhaps we are looking at a fall in that area.
      It is interesting that keris appear to suffer from lawrencite 
desease, and that there is a ceremony called the "heirlooms cleansing" 
that is performed once a year to combat it.  There was a picture of it 
at http://www.joglosemar.co.id/~1suro.html, but it seems to be out this 
morning.

                                          Best wishes - 
                                                Ed

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