Polearm - European, Indo-Persian?
 

I picked this up a few years back when an ebay seller was auctioning off the contents of a movie prop dept. that had contents dating back to the 1930s. A lot of their props were purchased from a turn-of-the-century catalog that imported antique weapons from all over the world.

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL151.../230154480.jpg

The polearm is a bit over 8 feet long, and that's after having been trimmed down at some point in its life. The head alone is a shade over 3 feet, its length divided more or less evenly between the socket and the blade.

So, can anyone put a specific name to this beast, and/or a country of origin? :confused:

If I had to guess, I would say Chinese based on the diamond shaped filing decoration near the ricasso. I could be way off base though. You say it has a forged socket?

I hadn't even consider China as a possibility. There were other polearms for sale at the same time, and some were really odd ducks.

Yes, as near as I can tell the socket is forged. No visible forging marks, but it's too thin for a casting, vary nicely finished.

Yes, this looks Chinese to me as well. Compare it with this similar Chinese polearm.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...21/aj2999_.jpg

What's funny is that the pic you posted looks like another of the ads originally posted by the seller from whom I purchased mine, so the similarity isn't surprising! :D