Unusual Chinese sword

[Peter Dekker]

Thanks for sharing guys, very interesting! That horn handle is beautiful.

Although I'm not entirely convinced mine is filipino, it most certainly shows a strong relationship to these with the chiseled forte and the leaf shaped blade.

More Sinified aspects of mine is the straighter shape and the way it builds up width from the forte, giving it more of a Chinese "feel" to it. Compare that effect to, for example, these:



Chiseled engravings on blades, were also quite common (and often floral) in Vietnam.

All considering, we might assess it originated somewhere around the South China sea area, sharing shores with South China, the Philippines, and Vietnam.

Would you guys agree?

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by Peter Dekker

All considering, we might assess it originated somewhere around the South China sea area, sharing shores with South China, the Philippines, and Vietnam.

Would you guys agree?

Hello Peter,

sorry, no, I don't agree. It's in my opinion clearly a Luzon piece, the way how the guard is attached in up from the horn hilt, the carved ricasso at the blade and the lamination of the blade let me be very sure.

What told you Philip Tom about this piece?

Regards,
Detlef

[Timo Nieminen]

Originally Posted by Peter Dekker

All considering, we might assess it originated somewhere around the South China sea area, sharing shores with South China, the Philippines, and Vietnam.

Would you guys agree?

The blade looks very Philippines, and not Chinese at all. The hilt looks Chinese to me.

Here is a photo of a sword I thought looked quite Chinese. The grip has a similar shape to yours (though the guard differs). It came with a bunch of Indonesian blades, and might be Indonesian like its box-mates.

[kino]

Like most so far, I vote Philippines.

[M ELEY]

Philippines, with Spanish colonial influence (the quillon with the snake similar to those found on espadas)-

[Peter Dekker]

Thanks guys!

Sajen, I see what you mean with the Luzon attribution. In internet search came up with quite a few of them with such a long brass ferrule. I couldn't find any with a complete straight and symmetrical blade like mine. Is this more unusual in this sphere?

Mine seems more Chinese-influenced than most I'm coming across, but you guys have convinced me it's probably made elsewhere.

Philip pointed out how the quillon on the back is too close to the blade for Chinese standards. In China they were used to flip the blade around so they could strike with the handle. I thought perhaps this was because you don't want to flip a double edged blade, because the back edge will then be next to your forearm. But I see many filipino blades that have the same, a thin quillon pretty close to the blade.

Thanks for your help!