Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

kronckew · 20th December 2010, 07:56 PM

definitley a bhutanese 'dossum' or 'doo zum', as noted, the faceted grip shape is a dead giveaway. yours has more of a 'sword' tip to it (swords are 'patang') and thus could be a short 'patang'. they also make these in eastern tibet, near the bhutan border - styles do blurr there a bit, but even the tibetan ones are 'bhutanese style'.

i've one, a bit more dressy:

yours is a bit more utilitarian, i like it. many older ones are made from hairpin laminated steel.

here's a photo of the current king wearing a slightly larger (and much more expensive than ours) one. note he wears it on the right side, the negative is not flipped. it's a rank thing apparently.

another link to another forum where these were discussed. the original poster is a well educated bhutanese...LINKY
best bits are on page 3.

the other 2 pages are also worth reading.

20th December 2010, 07:56 PM	#2
kronckew Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Room 101, Glos. UK Posts: 4,215	definitley a bhutanese 'dossum' or 'doo zum', as noted, the faceted grip shape is a dead giveaway. yours has more of a 'sword' tip to it (swords are 'patang') and thus could be a short 'patang'. they also make these in eastern tibet, near the bhutan border - styles do blurr there a bit, but even the tibetan ones are 'bhutanese style'. i've one, a bit more dressy: yours is a bit more utilitarian, i like it. many older ones are made from hairpin laminated steel. here's a photo of the current king wearing a slightly larger (and much more expensive than ours) one. note he wears it on the right side, the negative is not flipped. it's a rank thing apparently. another link to another forum where these were discussed. the original poster is a well educated bhutanese...LINKY best bits are on page 3. the other 2 pages are also worth reading. Last edited by kronckew; 20th December 2010 at 08:28 PM.