[RhysMichael]

Originally Posted by Mark

The koftgari, by the way, is a defining characteristic of a Burmese dha, as it was not used in other parts of SEA. So if there is koftgari on an old blade, it is almost certainly Burmese, and specificially Burman as opposed to one of the other ethnic groups in Burma. Bell (1907) (see the bibliography on my web site that John linked) states that the koftgari decoration on Burmese swords was invented by a certain family of smiths five generations before his writing. Koftgari is not a Burmese invention, of course, but apparently this family was the first in Burma to apply it to dha. Allowing ~50 years per generation, that goes back to around 1650 C.E. According to Lung Som, a master smith in Aranyik, Thailand, koftgari has never been used on Thai blades.

Dating these swords can be difficult if they do not have a date right on them (you sometimes see dedicatory texts with a date on the blade). However, under British colonial rule there was passed the Arms Act of 1878, which effectively killed the sword-making industry in the country (this according to Bell). What appears to have continued is the production of elaborately decorated presentation swords. These are the ones with the dedicatory texts on the blade and/or scabbard. However, with time the actual quality of the blades of these swords seemed to decline, I guess because the swordmaking art was being lost and they just had to look good and not be at all functional as a blade. So, when you see a really nice Burmese sword with any age to it that does not have a dedication on it, it is pretty safe to assume that it is not much older than the 1870's.

More good information to add to my "dha notebook", I remember you saying in Md last year that the koftgari was only seen on burmese swords, the rest is all new to me.
Thanks