Hi guys,
I'm a little late to the party. I see Philip -the O.G. of antique Chinese swords research- pretty much covered it all!
Considering his remarks at the tunkou, I agree and when you look at the pattern or pitting on the base of that blade I seem to be making out an outline of the original tunkou which was somewhat longer and of a slightly different profile.
The baitong mounted one seems to hark back to Ming dynasty saber designs in a tasteful way. The later suspension bar also reflects this, so whoever made it had some awareness of older pre-Qing stylistic elements.
I, too, like the iron-mounted one the most. Some pitting on mounts but considering how rarely good iron-mounted Chinese swords come up these days we should consider ourselves lucky when a complete one turns up at all.
Good finds!
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