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Old 7th July 2008, 05:58 PM   #3
josh stout
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Join Date: Mar 2007
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Yes, it definately has a Bhutanese style pommle and scabbard. The blade might be Tibetan or Bhutanese, but the odds are the blade was made near where the fittings were made.

Generally, I think of Bhutanese blades as being a bit slimmer than Tibetan ones, and made with narrower hairpin bars (though not the "folded all together" style described in LaRocca). This is just a general feeling about the Bhutanese stuff, based on a fairly limited sample. More specifically, a Bhutanese blade will often have narrow parallel grooves (washo) carved along the blade. These are not supposed to be on Tibetan blades, though I can think of at least one Tibetan jian with them in LaRocca. So the washo are not diagnostic either way.

I do think I see hairpin folding, and more interestingly, it looks like it might be double ended. Am I seeing too much in the photo?
Josh
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