Chinese "pirate" sword? Part II

[Andrew]

We discussed this item a while back when it appeared on eBay. The auction photos are long gone, but I recall buying this thing because it was so unusual, and because I thought I spied something interesting going on at the forte.

The old discussion can be found here:
http://www.vikingsword.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/001880.html

Complete shot of the sword:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v12/cha-con/DSCN0703.jpg

When I got the sword in hand, I could see nothing, and the thing ended up at the bottom of a file cabinet drawer with a lot of dha. :rolleyes:

The subject came up again in this thread: http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=793 and I took some photos in bright sunlight yesterday.

I noticed something I had not seen before at the forte. At first, I thought it was writing of some sort, perhaps Arabic. However, if you look closely, you can see what appears to be a tree, with the "writing" forming the foliage:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v12/cha-con/DSCN0697.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v12/cha-con/DSCN0696.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v12/cha-con/DSCN0695.jpg

[tom hyle]

Yep, and it looks European?
What's up, edgewise pin?
At the base of the blade I note what look like hammer bumps from driving off a guard/hilt, suggesting this one is nonoriginal. I also see the vice marks (from sharpening?) that are so common, and some other kind of patterned scratch I don't think I recognize.