Thanks to all. I am moving to a new flat over the coming weekend, so won't be able to rephotograph it for a while, and will be incommunicado until they switch the phone on in the new place and reactivate my broadband. I've had a friend comment that the guard was very Jian-like, the rest of the grip & blade, of course, is not. As Jim notes, I found reference to the upper crust fascination with the 'eastern' pandour style, and the French made the hangers like mine to assuage their hunger for the style.
p.s.- Fernando, today was an unseasonably warm day, sunny, and not a cloud to be seen, reminds me a lot of Portuguese weather, tho slightly cooler. Since they banned coal fire heating in London many moons ago, solving the air pollution, it has the side effect of eliminating most of the fog, and that has filtered out to the boondocks, the fog usually is on the side of the river behind the hill I'm on. We actually occasionally have days in the low 30's centigrade in the summer. But not too many. We've stopped wearing top hats and bowlers too. Fedoras are still fairly popular.
Had to wear a broad-brimmed hat today and photo-reactive lenses. I was, however, busy away from home redirecting my mail & utilities and ordering new carpet and blinds. (I'm moving to a new flat about 12 miles away, it's just under twice the size of my present one. More room for sharp pointy stuff!
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