Andrew - yes, I was refering the the damascus dha with the date cartouche, which I expect is the "Oldman" dha refered to.
Alaung Hpaya - Artzi (Oriental Arms) doesn't mind linking to his photos. I was going to do the same, as that is the inlaid dha I was talking about that I bought at Timonium.
We haven't found any clear information on the brass, and sometimes copper, insets along the spine. I sort of doubt that it counts kills, since I think its something that would have been done at the time of manufacture, and the patterns are always very regular, which should not be the case unless the owner always killed in even numbers
. I have found reference to the talismanic significance of some metals in Burmese and Thai culture, but not specifically brass or copper. It is something that I have most often seen on Shan and Thai dha, in the latter case in the more contemporary krabi-krabong daab.
Philip Tom has suggested that it is a stylized representation of bamboo.
Kyat being reference to the number of layers is interesting, but wouldn't one expect the number to be either smaller (welded billet) or even (folded billet)? Could it refer to the weight of the sword?