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Old 16th February 2020, 10:23 PM   #1
josh stout
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Default Chinese translation help cutlass length saber

These are closeups from the cutlass length saber I posted. Please help with translation if possible. I think the characters give a reign mark, but unfortunately they were lacquered over, and are difficult to decipher. I will try and do a rubbing and see if that helps. It looks like the pommel was refit to tighten it up, probably when it was lacquered.
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Old 16th February 2020, 10:38 PM   #2
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So the second picture down with the black lacquer and the two characters says "Da Qing", (i.e. "The Great Qing"). The two characters in the picture above that should give the emperor's name. Could it be Tongzhi? The inlay work has me stumped.
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Old 17th February 2020, 12:20 AM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by josh stout
The inlay work has me stumped.
Lower character is "zhou" 州 - prefecture, province, administrative division (in old China).
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Old 17th February 2020, 05:05 AM   #4
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I am impressed.
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Old 17th February 2020, 12:56 PM   #5
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Decrypted the first character, that's what I got 邠州 Binzhou (the name of the county located in the western part of Shaanxi Province, in 1913 renamed Binxian County 邠 县)
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Old 17th February 2020, 05:17 PM   #6
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Impressed even more.
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Old 22nd February 2020, 11:07 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by josh stout
So the second picture down with the black lacquer and the two characters says "Da Qing", (i.e. "The Great Qing"). The two characters in the picture above that should give the emperor's name. Could it be Tongzhi?
It looks like you were right.
大清道光卜 "Da Qing Dao Guang bu" - "The Great Qing Dynasty Emperor Tao Guang granted [this sword]" ("Dao Guang" reign period 1821-1850).
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Old 23rd February 2020, 11:31 AM   #8
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我不懂中文

(Wǒ bù dǒng zhōngwén)

Nice to have someone here who can.
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Old 23rd February 2020, 11:37 AM   #9
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谢谢! xièxie! Thank you!
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Old 23rd February 2020, 07:07 PM   #10
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Thank you all so much! A dated Chinese saber from a specific region is wonderful to find. I have been looking at it for years, and finally got around to posting it.

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