thanx for the pics!
Interesting blade! It actually has a double hairpin, it's on both ends. Do you have a copy of the Met's exhibition catalog "Warriors of the Himalayas" (2006)? There's one Tibetan long backsword (dpa dam) in there with the same type of two-ended hairpin (albeit with finer layering).
As far as I know, the Tibetans and Bhutanese kept doing hairpin well into the 20th cent. JP used to say that the Nepalese tended to drop the use of patternwelds for kooks sometime in the 19th cent, when carriage springs, rail steel, and crucible steel recycled from ag implements became widely available -- high quality material, and easy to forge and harden.
Say, has anyone heard from JP recently? 'Hope he's back to health.
Philip
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