To me, the dragon engraving on the blade is not consistent with blades that I’ve seen. A lot of the recent reproductions went crazy with Mulan looking dragons on the blades, and Wild engravings of characters.
The casting of the fittings to me is crude, in my opinion, if a sword were to have such ornamentation, the pierce work would be exceptionally refined. Why go to such lengths to make a fancy jian, but only make rough work with the fittings.
The patina on the fittings seems off to me too.
The patina and appearance of the rayskin/sharkskin looks off.
I’m no expert in original pieces, but I have observed a huge amount of modern reproductions over the last 20 years. Mostly by photo.
I would wonder if a sword was real, then click on the buyers page and see what else they had. Only to see insanely grotesque caricatures of Chinese weapons.
In my opinion, if the workmanship is crude, then it will be crude throughout. So if having fancy Buddhist icons on it, it would be done impeccably, if at all. Crude pieces that are original are crude from head to toe. A refined sword would have no telltale signs of crudity, unless damage, or parts replaced.
That’s my take. I’m no expert, and I go by feeling still, until I become more astute at identifying the tell tale signs of modern fabrications.
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