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Old 8th November 2017, 09:56 PM   #2
A. G. Maisey
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Join Date: May 2006
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Charles, I would suggest that testing of these mounts might result in them being found to be brass that has been silver plated.

To test with certainty it is necessary to get into the base metal, this requires scraping, something most people will not do on an external surface, so you need to get to an inside surface, which for a person not familiar with construction methods used with these swords, can be a little daunting. Silver test fluid can be bought from a jewelers supply house.

The blade is certainly old, probably pre-dating 1850.

These old swords are almost never found in anything approaching the mounts that they were originally fitted with. The really old mounts were usually wood or horn. Scabbards were wood. Unlike keris, swords were used in battlefield combat, so scabbards were thrown away, not carried in combat.

The metal mounts that these swords are usually found with now mostly date from around 1850 to the present.
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