Re: Burmese mss ?

Yes, ornate Kammavaca MS are common precisely because this was the one
type of manuscript that was "held up" ostentatiously before a crowd
--and served as a literal prop in various ceremonies.

Mme Filliozat and I compared notes on this subject; we both had mixed
feelings of admiration (and, perhaps, contempt) for the Mon kammavaca
that are ostentaiously prepared with both black and red laq layered
onto various semi-precious materials --sometimes with the addition of
gold --and frequently in lettering that is decorative to the point of
being near-incomprehensible.

In any case, precisely because they are so ornate, Kammavaca texts are
collected out of all proportion to their scholarly merit --as Justin's
comments indicate.

But if you're the kind of tourist looking to illegally expropriate a
piece of cultural heritage that you can't read, don't appreciate, and
won't ever understand anyway, I suppose "you get what you pay for"
with a Kammavaca.

BTW, I assumed that it was wood simply because of the appearance of
the insect-bored holes.  As stated previously (viz., before Justin's
posting) I also believe that it is 20th century, based on the glyph
forms alone.

E.M.