Mysterious markings on dha or daab sword
 

Hello
Seeking help on deciphering this strange marking on Ricardo of an antique dha sword. There is also an odd little round bump on the spine. Anyone seen anything similar?

Ricasso

Hi Sid,

That looks like a fairly old blade, but it is hard to say how old. There is some active rust that should be removed I think. Cleaning and polishing the blade might reveal some further marks. I am unfamiliar with the dots and lines shown, and have not seen similar marks on dha/daab before, although southern Chinese swords occasionally have the "Seven Stars" marks that looks a bit similar to the lines/large dots depicted on this blade. The small round protruding piece on the spine may be a metal insert, possibly brass. Again, cleaning and polishing the blade would show that better.

Regards, Ian

Constellation?
 

Ian,

Looks like the Big Dipper to me. Can’t help you with the bump though. To me, the odds look good for a differentially heat treated edge if you really work hard on polishing the blade (I'm presently doing one myself).

Sincerely,
RobT

Rob, I was thinking the same thing with additional stars and the Southern Cross.

Thanks Members for your valuable insights. I've never come across this on a sword before and imagine it was added as a form of talismanic protection ?

Syd, the Seven Stars have religious significance in Taoism. Peter Dekker has a nice short piece on the Seven Stars jian on his website at www.mandarinmansion.com.

The shape of the blade on your sword looks Shan to me. The Shan are mostly in SE Burma and neighboring southern Yunnan. The Shan have Chinese heritage and close relationships with Tai and Lao groups in northern Thailand and Laos and neighboring Yunnan. It would not be surprising to find Tao symbols used by Shan living in or close to southern Yunnan, although I don't recall examples of other swords so marked.