[Miguel]

Originally Posted by Philip

There are a few of these on display in the history museums in Saigon and Hanoi, but it's true that the majority of examples appear on the Western antique arms market. For a long time they have been ID'd as Chinese ("warlord swords", haha) or even as Malay or Indonesian. It may well be that some were made for the tourist trade during the French colonial period, quality varies and I've run into a few that have nickel plated brass blades and fittings of exaggerated proportion and style. Others have fully functional blades, I have 3 in my collection which are very well made, at least 7mm thick at the forte and edges are tempered, all this on top of the fancy-shmancy inlays, carving, and chased silver. I once had a fourth one that incorporated a recycled French shortsword blade, badly pitted unfortunately. Looking at old photos, one sees that these weapons were regalia sabers for military mandarins. On parade, the officer was preceded by two subalterns, one holding the guom vertically in its scabbard (the blades were not drawn out) much like an English lord-mayor's bearing-sword, the other carrying the ceremonial parasol. On garrison duty, the guom was displayed vertically on a rack in front of the mandarin's tent. Years ago, the antiques magazine Arts of Asia ran an article on Vietnamese silverwork, and it mentioned these sabers fitted-up by silversmiths who specialized in such regalia, the trade being handed down for generations. The abdication of the Nguyen Dynasty's last emperor in 1945 and the disbanding of the imperial guard would have put an end to the market for these swords.

Hello Philip, Thank you for your interesting information, I have seen these with really good blades but only in pictures and not very many it seems that you are lucky to have some with good blades and not the crude ones more commonly seen. To me the outstanding thing about these is the scabbards the workmanship is excellent and the decoration beautiful. I wonder what the silversmiths and the shimancy craftspeople turnened their hands to when the requirement for these items ceased?
Regards
Miguel