[Ian]

I got an excited message from a young collector friend last night that he had won a dadao on an online Belgian auction. It was a bringback by a Belgian military officer from the time of the Korean War when the UN sent forces to S. Korea to repel the invasion from N. Korea and then a subsequent wave of Chinese military action. He thought this dadao was more likely Korean than Chinese. I was inclined to agree with him, but am no expert on Korean edged weapons, and direct Chinese involvement in the second half of the conflict is well known. All we have at this time are the auction pictures which are reasonable quality.

The blade is 58 cm in length and has numerous markings--none of which look especially Chinese to me. The hilt is rectangular in cross section and wrapped with leather strips, plus an "Elastoplast" repair adjacent to a small rectangular brass guard. The pommel is a flattened ovoid ring, also wrapped with leather strips.

Overall length 84.5 cm.

Thoughts and opinions welcome. My friend is very pleased with himself because he paid less than 100 Euros for the sword!