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Sajen
20th July 2025, 09:41 AM
I won recently at a German auction two old and interesting Burmese dha.

Here is one of them for sharing and discussion. Scabbard from wood and handle mounts from non ferric metal are gold painted and the ray skin at the handle is stitched with metal wire, normally the ray skin is nailed.
The slightly hollow blade is laminated, I cleaned the blade only from old grease and surface rust.

85 cm long inside scabbard.
83 cm long without.
Blade 64,5 cm.
Spine behind the handle 7 mm.
721 gram complete.

Marc M.
20th July 2025, 02:46 PM
Interesting specimen, rye skin handle not come across yet, congratulations.
Regards
Marc

Sajen
20th July 2025, 03:29 PM
Interesting specimen, rye skin handle not come across yet, congratulations.

Thank you Marc. The ray skin covered handle is a Burmese feature. But normally the ray skin is nailed, not stitched like by the example in question.
Attached are two pictures from another Burmese dha in my collection where the ray skin is nailed.

Regards,
Detlef

Marc M.
20th July 2025, 05:31 PM
Surely you must have a reasonable collection of dha.
Very nice.
Regards
Marc

Sajen
20th July 2025, 05:40 PM
Surely you must have a reasonable collection of dha.
Very nice.

A few only!;)

kronckew
21st July 2025, 08:42 AM
[QUOTE=Sajen;298671.... But normally the ray skin is nailed, not stitched like by the example in question....[/QUOTE]


It looks like the 'stitching is wire. :confused:
Nice tho - looks better than nailing.

Ian
21st July 2025, 02:57 PM
Hi Sajen,

The wire stitching of the ray skin (shagreen) is unusual but not unique on Burmese dha. I've seen a few examples.

Regards, Ian.

Sajen
21st July 2025, 03:58 PM
It looks like the 'stitching is wire. :confused:
Nice tho - looks better than nailing.

Hi Wayne,

Yes, the stitching is done with wire, like stated in post #1. ;)

Regards,
Detlef

Sajen
21st July 2025, 04:02 PM
The wire stitching of the ray skin (shagreen) is unusual but not unique on Burmese dha. I've seen a few examples.


Hi Ian,

I've never seen this before, are you able to show examples?

Regards,
Detlef

Ian
21st July 2025, 08:20 PM
Detlef,

The examples I remember, maybe two or three, were not mine. It was some time ago and I don't recall where I saw them. Perhaps advertised in online auctions. Sorry.

Ian.

kronckew
31st July 2025, 08:37 AM
:)