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Originally Posted by Nick Wardigo
Josh--
I'm a little perplexed by your assertion that horse-tooth patterning cannot be replicated by modern smiths. It's true that I haven't seen any dating later than the early 20th century, but I have seen a lot of very beautiful modern pattern welding, including some very sophisticated twist-core. I'd be surprised if a smith couldn't replicate this. Whether it would be cost-effective is another matter entirely.
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Well I have not gone around checking this, but Kenneth who is studying sword smithing with Zhou-Zheng-Wu made this claim on SFI as have a few others. At the time some Western sword smiths thought it should be possible to recreate, I just have not seen it done.
You make a good point that the scabbard does not match the same style as the handle fittings. I was focusing on the scabbard when I was thinking it was younger than the blade. Certainly the ornate guard and pommel match the quality of the blade better than the scabbard.
The pattern weld is still a bit of a puzzle. These latest pictures don't show the line I thought was evidence of piled construction of the type one sees with twist core. Now it is looking like what I think is called "pool and eye" pattern though I am not good at pattern weld names. The Chinese would call this "flowery steel" (hua gang?).
Josh