Chinese Bronze Age dagger

[bluelake]

I have one almost exactly like it (not pictured). I got it back in the 90s here in Korea; it was brought in from China. Mine's a fake, but interesting. Actually, I used to pick up imitation Chinese bronzes, as some of them are very well-made and look nice, even if not original. Attached is one of my favorites; I often use it in my Korean history classes so students can feel the weight of a bronze sword. Many years ago, I used to have a reproduction "bipa" (an ancient musical instrument) shaped bronze sword, which was used in NE Asia, but someone else wanted it a lot more...

Other common bronze fakes are arrow points and bronze mirrors. Fortunately, I came upon a cache of original bronze arrow points before faking became popular. There used to be some fantastic original bronzes available here in Korea, but not anymore. As an antiquities expert and friend of mine once said regarding Chinese bronzes, "It was probably made in a certain Beijing alley last Tuesday".