A Trio of Chinese Swords Joins the Accidental Collection

[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.

[werecow]

Originally Posted by ariel

I can hardly remember anyone on this forum dedicated to Chinese swords.

Your query can be professionally answered only by a Chinese-focused person, and I can recall only one,- Peter Dekker.

Originally Posted by Tim Simmons

Lack of knowledge indeed.

Outside of Mandarin Mansion it seems to be surprisingly hard to find good information about Chinese swords. Are there any good, well illustrated English language books about antique Chinese arms out there?

[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.