Silver daab

[Iain]

Thanks for all your comments.

I'm quite happy to share the detail of exactly what this sword is.

This sword falls into a specific family of silver dressed daab made in and around Luang Prabang in the mid to late 19th century. At this time the Kingdom of Luang Prabang was a vassal state to Siam, having been first occupied in the 1790s but allowed a degree of autonomy by Bangkok. By the reign of Chantharath (r. 1850-1868) Luang Prabang faced serious pressure from Haw Chinese incursions and the simmering tensions and conflicts between Siam, Vietnam and the very growing French presence in the region.

Still, for all this turmoil these swords are a fascinating and somewhat unique grouping and I have been lucky enough to own one of the more 'common' forms in the past and am attaching images as a reference as too why the one I started this thread with is exceptional.

One of the main characteristics of this sword sub-type is the style of the grip. It invariably shows the 'loop' or 'cord' like decoration with usually a floral decorative element in-between representing a lamduan. An animal motif of some kind is not uncommon, usually present on the end of the pommel, which is typically a flat cap. The blades are usually of good quality, although these are swords for those of high rank and likely were not often employed as front line weapons.

Now that we have a baseline of a 'common' example I'll continue on with the animal head pommel piece in a second post...