Wow, Jasper! That's an awesome cousin to mine (better quality than mine, too!). Interestingly, it has the same cruciform stamped pattern on the blade as mine. I found this marking on ancient Ceylon coins from the 400-500 AD period, which I know seems to have no connection until you remember these swords popped up during the Anglo Dutch Wars of the 1650-80 period directly in that region, the lion of the hilt, although Dutch resembles the 'standing lion' of Ceylon and many of these sword types made with tropical wood hilts from the region. Also, the 4-dot pattern also found on Dutch 'dump' coins of the mid-1700's. I've asked before, but can't remember if there was an opinion of if this stamping has any connection to the VOC?
There is another Forum member who has an example as nice as the Rijksmuseum piece above! I'm not sure if they want to post it here or not, though, so we'll see!
