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Majapahit and settled in East Bali; the capital was moved to Klungkung about 50 years later, so it is probable that the smiths of Kamasan are decended from the court smiths of Majapahit
Nengah Ngaje says there are about 40 households in the village which make the same kind of goods ("sejenis"); it is not clear whether these are all silverworking households, or whether he is including goldsmiths as well
they also call their smithies perapen and he says there are a maximum of 5 workers per perapen
he doesn't know anything about the origins of the silverworking industry in Kamasan and sais it is 'turun temurun'
he makes large silver bowls and dishes (bokor, dulang), some with pedestals, which have repousse work; they are very fine
these bowls and dishes are purchased mainly by temples (pura) and used for ceremonial offerings
as raw material he uses silver in bead form called "perak murnia mulia" (this may be a brand name); it comes from Australia
he always buys it from Lotinah Store (Toko Lotinah) in Klungkung and he also gives his products to Lotinah Store to sell ("setor kesana"); the store is owned by I Wayan Nomor, a Balinese
N. N. goes to Lotinah Store every 3 days
he uses coconut shell charcoal (areng batok kelapa) which he buys at Pasar Klungkung
he uses about 60 kilos of charcoal a mo.; the maximum purchase price is 360 Rp a kilo
he and his family members can finish two sets of dulang a mo. 
each set requires 700 grams of silver, which he buys for 350 Rp per gram; thus the silver in one set is worth 245,000 Rp
he sells each set for 350,000 Rp
his profit can be calculated as follows:

gross income from sales 700,000
minus expend. for silver 490,000
minus expend. for charcoal 21,600
leaves profit of 188,400

at the time of this interview the exchange rate was about 1930, so this is equal to about $98
actually, a little more would have to be deducted for polishing materials
N. N. melts his silver in a takaran or pengleburan (various sizes and shapes of crucibles)
it takes 1 hour to melt a large amount of silver
he uses a fairly large cylindrical (check photo) Chinese push-pull bellows, a little over a meter long
when the silver melts in the crucible, it forms a disk, flat on one side and convex on the other
Ni Wayan Sandri, his wife, pounds these disks out into sheet silver, and she was doing this when we were there
one daughter was polishing a nearly finished bowl by a water faucet near the roadside (check photo)

sometimes N. N. can sell his dishes directly to the consumer ("lepas", i.e. freely), and then he can get 400,000 Rp a set
if he sold both sets freely, this would increase his profits by


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