"cleaned" blade

[DhaDha]

Apologies. I'll post some better shots soon. There's some copper koftgari on the spine which I'll show for colour reference as well.

[DhaDha]

Here are some more pics. Unfortunately, with the same camera. Hopefully both the koftgari and "cleaned" blade are more visible. I assumed there was copper, silver and gold. I don't have any paint thinner on hand to try and see if there's a "golden" stain or varnish though.

[katana]

IMHO If the file marks are caused by the sharpening of the blade by the original ethnic owner, I believe it is part of its authentic history ......and perhaps should be left. However, if you believe that the file marks are much more recent ....then polish them out..... my 2 cents worth.....

[Mark]

Interesting. The photo of the side panel shows the figures a silver, and the background foliage yellowish - maybe it is gold. It would be a first for me if it were. I suppose brass is a possibility, but it doesn't look quite the right color for that, either. I am interested to hear the results of your cleaning.

I think the grind marks along the edge are due to "authentic" re-sharpening. they look to me to have been done with a whetstone & not with a file or grinding wheel. As I said, you could leave them or polish them down a bit, depending on whether or not you want it to be completely as found (or last used).

Its a very nice piece.

[Ian]

Originally Posted by Mark Bowditch

Interesting. The photo of the side panel shows the figures a silver, and the background foliage yellowish - maybe it is gold. It would be a first for me if it were. I suppose brass is a possibility, but it doesn't look quite the right color for that, either. I am interested to hear the results of your cleaning.

I think the grind marks along the edge are due to "authentic" re-sharpening. they look to me to have been done with a whetstone & not with a file or grinding wheel. As I said, you could leave them or polish them down a bit, depending on whether or not you want it to be completely as found (or last used).

Its a very nice piece.

I think the yellow material is almost certainly brass. Brass decoration is quite common on these swords. Gold would be very unusual and I don't see other signs of lavish decoration to complement such an expensive ornamentation.

The grind marks are likely to be from a stone, as Mark has said. These marks can be found on very well made dha, and do not detract from the piece in any way IMO. They are genuine signs of use within the culture and I am inclined to leave them unchanged.

ian.

[PUFF]

Is this a Japanese-imitated version of Burmese Dha? The blade cross section is more or less diamond shape. Together with the hamon-like thing and japanese polishing attempt make me feel that way.
Nice blade, though

[Battara]

Puff, this seems typical of dha blades. I agree with Ian on the overlay being brass instead of gold.

[Mark]

Originally Posted by PUFF

Is this a Japanese-imitated version of Burmese Dha? The blade cross section is more or less diamond shape. Together with the hamon-like thing and japanese polishing attempt make me feel that way.
Nice blade, though

This is a typical cross-section for a Burmese blade. I have not seen any definite influence from Japanese blades on Burmese dha. There never was any significant Japanese presence in Burma, either by traders or settlers/mercenaries, as was the case in Thailand, where you do see Japanese katana blades re-fitted in Thai mountings and Japanese-style Thai blades (there is an equisite folded steel daab with guilded fittings and a damascus/watered blade in the Smithsonian American History Museum, which was a gift to the President - I forget which - from the King).