9 Ring Broadsword

[Gavin Nugent]

Originally Posted by VANDOO

JUST A FEW THOUGHTS. WHAT IS THE PROVENANCE ON THE LAST EXAMPLE ? JUDGEING FROM THE RUST PATTERN IT MAY HAVE HAD SOME SORT OF STORAGE SCABBARD AND IT WOULD HAVE BEEN OPEN ALONG THE SIDE WHERE THE RINGS ARE LOCATED. IT WOULD NEVER FIT SNUG IN A FULL SCABBARD AND WOULD BE VERY DIFFICULT TO DRAW IF ANY RESTRICTION WAS PRESENT.
THE SWORD COULD BE USED TO MAKE A LOT OF NOISE PERHAPS TO DISTRACT OR ALARM LIKE WHEN A RATTLE SNAKE RATTELES ITS TAIL. I SEEM TO REMEMBER SEEING SOME RINGS ON THE BLADES OF SOME OF THE LARGE CHINESE POLE ARMS AS WELL. OF COURSE IT COULD HAVE BEEN IN A CHINESE KUNGFU MOVIE UNFORTUNATELY TRUTH IS OFTEN BURIED IN ALL THE FANTASY ENTERTAINMENT , AND THAT IS MOSTLY WHAT WE SEE.

Provenance; Without ging in too much detail; Peking, Boxer Rebellion.
Whilst this piece shown could well have had a scabbard, similar to that of military Dadao, I offer another explanation for its patina.
This piece was wall mounted for a very long time...in a yaght club from memory but I must check my notes. It was laying horizontal on a decorative wooden backing board and was wired to it, I'd say the years of dust and perhaps moisture in the air has added to this patina in this region.
I can also note this one makes very very little noise at all and I suspect any other genuine older version out there would also make little noise...perhaps only the modern tinny blades with larger metal rings make the noise

Gav