A beautiful Burmese dha dated 1798

[cylord21]

Speechless, pictures tells it all. This is the second old dha for real i have seen in this style, quality and age, the real thing. Both have seven panels of highest quality deep chased silver depicting figures and characters on blade. On the other one i saw (and missed as it was for sale) the scabbard was not dedicated but signed by a famous silver smiths from that time. The hilt has in the middle a plain ivory with nice old patina, not carved, and smaller chased silver panels with figures like in the scabbard at both ends. The pommel is ball shaped silver chased all over in floral motif. Congratulation. By the way, help from the man in Thailand to find a similar piece is more than welcome.

[Spunjer]

W W!!!

[Andrew]

Outstanding, Mark! That is absolutely beautiful. Congratulations!

Have you been able to turn up anything about that general?

[ksbhati]

What a beautifull Sword. I know next to nothing about Burmese edged weapons...but when I see this, It makes me want to learn .

Outstanding...thanks for posting.

Regards

Karni

[wilked aka Khun Deng]

It gets better looking every time I see it. I have yet to see it's equal in a story dha. What I'm sure Mark is too humble to tell you is that a professor in Chiang Mai had specifically requested this sword from the dealer to use in an upcoming book he will publish on the swords of the North. He at least thought it was historically significant.

This is the fourth time I've seen a similiar face on the pommel of a asian sword. Two were on the pommel caps of japanese style thai swords of high ranking individuals and another on a dha. Anybody have any ideas where it comes from?

Cylord email sent.

[Mark]

Thanks, all. It is very exciting to have such a nice, provenanced sword. Andrew, I haven't tried looking for info on the general, but I certainly intend to. It's hard to know where to start, but perhaps an internet search is the first step.

As for where it came from, aside from somewhere in Burma apparently, I need to check some sources to see who was in charge at that time. It was a very volotile period in Burmese history, with domestic control passing between Burmah and Mon kings, the capital shifting all over the place, and periodic invasions by the Thai and Arrakanese. It is a very distincitve style, and since I have not seen any bona fide "court" swords from Burma, I am going to venture a guess that it is such a sword, which means it is either from Ava, or Prome ... or Thaton ... or Pegu ... or Tuongoo ... <sigh>

The work on the scabbard looks almost Lao, actually. They work in this deeply chased style with illustrative panels. Perhaps a Lao craftsman in Burma, since Burma controlled that part of the area for some time in this era. I little perusal of my limited sources might shed some light.

[CharlesS]

I think this is the finest dha I have seen; what a splendid acquisition!