Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

dennee · 23rd August 2005, 03:04 PM

Here's a report from Lhasa, since I have been there the past week. The Chinese are getting pretty darn good at faking Tibetan helmets (many are obvious fakes, but they are getting the techniques right), but I have seen no swords that are the least convincing in decoration, let alone blade lamination (although I have had the opportunity to examine several in museums and monasteries--and most of those have lost the ring on the back of the pommel, suggesting that such a fragile looking part is not necessarily inauthentic ). I wouldn't trust armor or spears much, although I saw no spears that reproduced the partucular Tibetan style of head.

I saw one reproduction sword in the Tibetan Museum gift shop that made no attempt to pass itself off as the real thing, although it tried to convey the spirit. With a simple round guard and a scabbard covered in tan leather, the sword had the right weight, form and balance. The lamination was represented by creating an oxidized pattern around some sort of resist. The oixidized areas appeared to be iron oxide, although the particle appeared small and uniform in size and color (something like paprika, frankly)--and it was selling for 3000 yuan, more than I have bought most of my real ones for.

The absolute scarcity of reproduction laminated blades where you might most expect to see them--and compared with the number of knives and helmets suggests to me that no one (or almost no one) is producing them. If anyone is prodcing good copies, then $200 might be a reasonable price.

Of course, for the purpose of an eBay auction photo, the effect of the lamination, at least as seen in a raking light, could be produced in a number of ways.

I wouldn't worry about the red fabric around the throat, because it could be replacing a piece of leather that was easily lost. To get such a detail wrong when everything else looks right seems illogical. If someone had an original sword to copy, it wouldn't make sense to not copy the leather band. And, if the original no longer had a leather band, then the copyist would presumably have omitted the detail. This suggests simply an inauthentic replacement of an riginal piece.

23rd August 2005, 03:04 PM	#20
dennee Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: College Park, MD Posts: 186	Here's a report from Lhasa, since I have been there the past week. The Chinese are getting pretty darn good at faking Tibetan helmets (many are obvious fakes, but they are getting the techniques right), but I have seen no swords that are the least convincing in decoration, let alone blade lamination (although I have had the opportunity to examine several in museums and monasteries--and most of those have lost the ring on the back of the pommel, suggesting that such a fragile looking part is not necessarily inauthentic ). I wouldn't trust armor or spears much, although I saw no spears that reproduced the partucular Tibetan style of head. I saw one reproduction sword in the Tibetan Museum gift shop that made no attempt to pass itself off as the real thing, although it tried to convey the spirit. With a simple round guard and a scabbard covered in tan leather, the sword had the right weight, form and balance. The lamination was represented by creating an oxidized pattern around some sort of resist. The oixidized areas appeared to be iron oxide, although the particle appeared small and uniform in size and color (something like paprika, frankly)--and it was selling for 3000 yuan, more than I have bought most of my real ones for. The absolute scarcity of reproduction laminated blades where you might most expect to see them--and compared with the number of knives and helmets suggests to me that no one (or almost no one) is producing them. If anyone is prodcing good copies, then $200 might be a reasonable price. Of course, for the purpose of an eBay auction photo, the effect of the lamination, at least as seen in a raking light, could be produced in a number of ways. I wouldn't worry about the red fabric around the throat, because it could be replacing a piece of leather that was easily lost. To get such a detail wrong when everything else looks right seems illogical. If someone had an original sword to copy, it wouldn't make sense to not copy the leather band. And, if the original no longer had a leather band, then the copyist would presumably have omitted the detail. This suggests simply an inauthentic replacement of an riginal piece.