17c Shamshir on E-Bay
 

This is as bad as "bad" can be :shrug: Sorry, I have no more words... it is just too sad...

http://cgi.ebay.com/Islamic-Indian-P...QQcmdZViewItem

don't worry, i'm sure there will be another more expensive one available for you.
check the vendors other items....

nice indian birdseye pattern welded steel (wonder if it's been nicely hardened/tempered), it's in such good condition, it could almost have been made last fortnight. maybe that's what they meant by 17th-18th : they must have meant 17th or 18th of january as they carefully did not say 17th-18th "century" anywhere.

Good point about 17/18 :)
I am worrying about 20+ people who bid on it :)
I assume they were considering it "old", i.e. antique sword, hence the price they were willing to pay.
The blade by the way is not hardened... well, it's only $100. The scabbard is typical new Syrian work. Total cost is under $300.

well, i was being a bit facetious about the hardening, and refrained from saying the most i'd venture was £150 ($300) lest i fall into violating the rules about discussing price. i would have expected it to be properly heat treated tho. he did say the blade was from india, so you cannot fault what he says. i hope he gets all he deserves from the other weapons he's selling. ultimately Allah will reward the righteous and punish the dishonest. ;)

You're absolutely right! Well said!
I also did not mention about seller (other than 17/18 thing). I was surprised by the buyers. The price reference is to reinforce the value concept, and this is what it sells for in the place it is produced.

:shrug: I'm not. Anyone willing to pay that kind of money better be an experienced ethnographic arms collector. Any experienced ethnographic arms collector knows exactly what that sword is.

In my opinion, the buyer deserves what he/she got.

Andrew, where's your compassion?! :rolleyes: :)

lol. I lost much of it when I became bitter and jaded. ;)

How much does a degree in Ethnographic arms cost?

The winners in China , We will probabably see 100s of copies of it on ebay next year! :shrug:

Spiral

I mostly worry about the "upgraded" old blades with new coftgaris, new hilts and scabbards that some sellers use to promote like original antiques :mad:

Andrew, this '"cathyzhong" had been buying inexpensive European swords and bayonets for some time. Taking into account that anything older than 60 years is antique down there, the demand must be ferocious and the prices must go through the roof.
In Russia, where ownership of weapons was banned and many were destroyed, and where expost of antiques is forbidden ( just like in China) a stinking WWII bayonet costs $200-300.
So, our little Madama Cathyzhong will earn a healthy profit on this monstrosity.
It will be, likely, re-invested in some garage in the armpit of Manchuria, where " unique high command shashka yataghan with rosewood vagina" will be produced every 10 seconds.