A Trio of Chinese Swords Joins the Accidental Collection

[Philip]

Originally Posted by Tim Simmons

Lack of knowledge indeed. I had a huge good steel, two handed Chinese sword with a long rectangular red painted handle. A brass circular loose fitting guard. Your usual militaria people would say this is just a show theatre sword. I now deeply regret letting it go for very little. If you have a hunch don't be fooled by lore and the uniformed. Hang on to it until sure.

Tim, those militaria people are next to useless when evaluating anything ethnographic, or even pre-Industrial Revolution European weapons. I've lost track of the times when, at a gun show, some yahoo showed me a crappy Filipino or Chinese fighting knife and tried to sell it to me as a "last ditch Confederate naval bowie". If my restoration talents took a turn for larceny I bet I could make a few bucks by stamping CSA on the blades and inducing the proper level of pitting and patina to match everything else.