Dha ID request

[DavidE]

Do any of you have ideas/info on where this dha is most likely from, and what its primary use was (for dress, ceremonial, combat, etc.)? I bought it in Vientianne and was told it was made around 1920 for a Lao sodier. Any thoughts on this? It's 32" long with a 12" handle. Thanks!

David

[PUFF]

I 'm not a Lao 's weapon expert or collector. I do agree with you that sword could be made in 20th cent. IMHO: The sword 's not for household use. Some people keep a functional weapon for home defend (from animals and also bad guys). The blade 's not decorated enough to be ceremonial or dressing piece.

The sword seems to be custom made for that purpose. It 's my first time seeing such peening on the blade surface. Does anybody has a similar example?

[DavidE]

Thanks PUFF,

You said "the sword seems to be custom made for that purpose". Do you mean for funcitonal home use, or possibly for a soldier of some sort?

I've looked at a good many dhas on the net, and haven't seen any quite like this one. Also, most seem to be from Burma or Thailand, not Laos. If anyone else has thoughts to share I'd appreciate it. :)

David

[RhysMichael]

I've never seen this "peening" on dha either. And it is also not a ussual characteristic for them to have a narrowing with a ferrel at the base of the blade. On those I have seen where the blade enters the hilt it is the same size or larger than the hilt ( daam), and the same size as the mouth of the scabbard (faak). The burned areas around the scabbard remind me of the fire hardening done on escrima sticks. Definitely an interesting specimen. I look forward to seeing what the others say.

[Ian]

I believe this sword has some "Montagnard" heritage, referring to the people of the uplands of Laos and neighboring Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. The features that strike me as being consistent with Montagnard work are the oddly segmented hilt and small ferrule, and the charring of the wood on the scabbard and hilt. I have seen each of these features on Montagnard dha before, but not altogether on a single piece. I agree with the feeling that this piece is not very old -- almost certainly 20th C.

Ian.

[DavidE]

Hey guys,

I could be wrong about this, but the wood doesn't look to be "charred" nearly as much as it does in the picture. The difference in color appears to me to be the result of a person's grip on the sword and scabbard. The handle and scabbard are a very dark brown and a bit rough. Exactly where your hand would go on the handle though, the wood is smooth and much lighter. Maybe it was charred, and the "charring" was simply worn off by someone's hand.

I'm attaching two additional pictures of some details that may be of interest. The first is of some sort of symbols/characters on the scabbard, which also allows you to see the color variation. The second is of a "butt" or plate which looks to be nailed to the bottom of the handle.

David

[RhysMichael]

It is not charred to to point that any material comes off. But it is darkened by the flames. Here is a link showing an escrima stick this was done to

http://www.wle.com/wholesale/media/W185.jpg

[PUFF]

I do agree that the wooden parts were flame treated. Seems to be done by the engraver, to bring out his/her engraved pattern. :D

And I think the blade was custom made because this kind of peening/marking takke too much time to be a production blade. For me, the sword 's decoration suggested its personal/home defend purpose. The "ติ" inscription could be someone 's name, likely to be owner (please enable Thai encoding on your page).

[DavidE]

RhysMichael- Thanks for the link.

PUFF- Interesting. It does look like the parts of the handle/scabbard that were flame treated were the parts that have carving.