Unknown short sword, old Moorish sword?

[mariusgmioc]

Hello Roland,

To me, it looks more like a Chinese Pudao.

[Roland_M]

Originally Posted by mariusgmioc

Hello Roland,

To me, it looks more like a Chinese Pudao.

Hi Marius,

thank you for your thoughts.

Polearm was also my first guess but than I saw these symbols and the number, I became indecisive.

I think the tang is too weak for a polearm, maybe it was shortened.

The blade under the yelman-like area is 2.5 mm thin, relatively thin for a polearm.

What I can say definitely is that there are very deep notches. It almost seems, a little bit of steel from an oponents weapon is cold welded in the notch.


Best,
Roland

[David R]

Hiya, any signs that the tang was peened over, or was it a stick tang and just inserted into the grip/shaft.

[Robert]

Though I cannot find an exact match, this blade reminds me of some of the ones used on machetes made by Robert Mole & Sons.

Best,
Robert

[Ian]

Hi Roland,

Interesting old "warrior." The thickness (thinness) of this blade does remind me of a machete, as Robert suggested. The "1748" mark could be a model no.

Ian.

[Kubur]

Hi Roland,

It looks like a Chinese sword, but because of the shape and the moon stamp.

For me it's a falchion, 15th c.

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...0&page=1&pp=30

You should post it on the European forum.

Kubur

[David R]

I keep seeing that number as a date,
1748!

[Roland_M]

Originally Posted by Kubur

Hi Roland,

It looks like a Chinese sword, but because of the shape and the moon stamp.

For me it's a falchion, 15th c.

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...0&page=1&pp=30

You should post it on the European forum.

Kubur

Yes, Falchion or Malchus looks similar but European weapons are normally flexible. This blade is not flexible at all.

[Roland_M]

Originally Posted by Ian

Hi Roland,

Interesting old "warrior." The thickness (thinness) of this blade does remind me of a machete, as Robert suggested. The "1748" mark could be a model no.

Ian.

Yes, this beast works like a machete and as I said/showed, the cutting edge looks awful.

Model number is one possibility but 1748 was the time of Friedrich II. from Prussia and the edged weapons of that period were different as edged weapons has been displaced by muskets and only survived as secondary weapons (except from cavalry).

I think the symbols and number are added later.

[kai]

Hello Roland,

The workmanship doesn't strike me as Chinese nor SE Asia.

I think the symbols and number are added later.

The number is done very differently than the moon and "stars" - the latter might be old/genuine and point to Europe, indeed.

The number doesn't strike me as anything sensible to do to a working blade (with the outer margin of the first number coming close to the [hardened?] edge); thus, I'd go for a later addition (and musea as well as collectors are known to have done dumb things to their pieces)!

Regards,
Kai

[Roland_M]

Originally Posted by David R

Hiya, any signs that the tang was peened over, or was it a stick tang and just inserted into the grip/shaft.

The tang seems slightly shortened or broken. I cannot see whether it is the original shape of the tang or not, there is too much rust. The tang is slightly bended, all beyond this is pure speculation. The size of the tang fits to European weapons.

Roland