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Old 28th October 2017, 01:41 PM   #2
Jim McDougall
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Route 66
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Hi Wille,,
Welcome to the forum!!!!
The first sword is as noted a dha, and while modern, very much a keenly representative ethnographic piece. It is remarkably similar to one I had which was a 'bringback' from Viet Nam in the early 60s..right down to the blade markings.
I do not have the notes at hand at the moment, but I did contact a noted Army officer who was in Viet Nam in 61-62, and recognized the form.
I then contacted a professor at UCLA who had written on Montagnard tribes in Viet Nam in particular the Hmong.

She approached elders of some of these tribes who recognized my dha which was as noted, strikingly similar to yours. They recognized it and some notes about the markings, which decidedly placed it to regions in Laos.
I do not recall the tribe noted, but will in a few weeks when I can get to notes.

These Montagnard tribes were valuable allies to our forces in Viet Nam, and many came to the US after the war.

The second item is I am afraid as you suspected, a souvenier item probably fro Saharan tribes, and quite modern, though made very much in the spirit of much older traditional weapons of the last century.
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