Tibetan sword: real?????

Bill M · 10th June 2007, 10:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VANDOO

THE RED CORAL LOOKS LIKE THE DYED CORAL COMING OUT OF CHINA IN MASS. FOR AN EXAMPLE OF HOW GOOD CHINESE FORGERYS CAN BE TAKE A LOOK AT EBAY ITEM 160122843989. THEY ARE MAKEING SOME VERY CONVINCING OLD AMERICAN COINS SO FAR THEY ARE LISTED AS COPYS OR REPLICAS I GUESS TO AVOID BREAKING COUNTERFIT LAWS TO BLATANTLY. I WAS LOOKING AT THE SMALL STONE CARVINGS WHEN I RAN ACROSS THE COINS.

Interesting. A Chinese seller admitting he sells copies. What is the world coming to?

When I grew up, my father's newspaper printing business was in a questionable part of downtown Atlanta. Street bums were always trying to cadge a bit of change. Usually the excuse was they needed to get something to eat or to get out of town and needed bus fare. However the local, nearby bars were where they headed.

One day a guy came up to me and said, "Buddy, I aint gonna lie to you. I need 50 cents for a cold beer." I though this was a refreshingly honest guy and gave him a dollar.

Walking smugly along I was accosted by another bum. He began, "Buddy, I ain't gonna lie to you....."

spiral · 10th June 2007, 10:30 PM

Intresting that the sellers currently listing 10 variations of Tibet sword.

To me most of the blades look real. old & laminated. {Hard to belive but they do look right, even the pitting looks genuine.}

Amazing array of modern scabbards & handels though including another one in identicle tone of buffalo horn.

Nepal is full of rusty old blades, perhaps this was a similar cache from Tibet or Bhutan etc. {or even Nepal, China India,.]

Re handled , new scabbards & straight on to ebay.

Doubt if Chinese customs would be concerned about these blades somehow, hardly Chinese heritage.

But sadley overpriced.

Spiral

ps if the blades are fake, their getting good at ageing.

ariel · 10th June 2007, 11:20 PM

I am glad I started this thread.
When professional collectors cannot agree on the authenticity of an object, there is a high chance we are dealing with a very high-class forgery.
Currently, the seller lists 10 old Tibetan swords/daggers ranging between $500-$2,500. Each one looks perfectly old and authentic.

Michael Blalock · 10th June 2007, 11:48 PM

The sword could be genuine. They have a lot of very overpriced genuine looking antiquies, as much as $99,000.00 buy it now, then there are the $39.00 rugs. I think the stuff over a couple of hundred is just there to get hits on their site. If you go to their website they specialize in mass produced rugs. I would be supprised if you bid you would win the sword. There is another Chinese survey equipment company that does the same thing. They produce a cheap instument and also sell quality ones at a very high price, which only seem to be pruchased by chinese.

spiral · 11th June 2007, 12:22 AM

I reckon if you bid $2000 on one of those at least half fake rusty bits of junk sword they will be happy to let you have it!

There multiple thousand dollar pieces of Antique Tibetan woodwork, I can see are brand new, like within last few months. {I used to work as a cabinet maker.} So perhaps Ariel is right.

If even the blades are fake, its the realist fake pitting Ive ever seen. Or is it? I guess the best fakes are never recognised as such.

Thats a sobering thought.

Spiral

BBJW · 11th June 2007, 02:57 PM

Obvious fake. Scabbard looks cheesy and blade shape isn't right.

bbjw

josh stout · 11th June 2007, 06:43 PM

I looked at all of the blades and they look genuine. However, in the condition they are in, they would not cost much as just the blade in Tibet. The scabbards have a bit of variation in what is fake and what is not. As mentioned the stones and coral look dyed, and there are many relatively recent additions and repairs. There was one blade with unfortunate fittings that even has the rare "jelly role" folding pattern like the one toward the bottom of this page (http://www.vikingsword.com/ethsword/tibet/index.html). The swords are clearly not worth the asking price, but they are not completely fake either. I would say these are typical of many Chinese dealers on eBay or elsewhere. Some things are real, while some things are not. Let the buyer beware. Due to the bad condition of the blades and mixed age of the fittings I would say these are overpriced by about a factor of ten.
Josh

11th June 2007, 02:57 PM	#6
BBJW Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Idaho, USA Posts: 228	Obvious fake Obvious fake. Scabbard looks cheesy and blade shape isn't right. bbjw

10th June 2007, 10:30 PM	#2
spiral Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 1,712	Intresting that the sellers currently listing 10 variations of Tibet sword. To me most of the blades look real. old & laminated. {Hard to belive but they do look right, even the pitting looks genuine.} Amazing array of modern scabbards & handels though including another one in identicle tone of buffalo horn. Nepal is full of rusty old blades, perhaps this was a similar cache from Tibet or Bhutan etc. {or even Nepal, China India,.] Re handled , new scabbards & straight on to ebay. Doubt if Chinese customs would be concerned about these blades somehow, hardly Chinese heritage. But sadley overpriced. Spiral ps if the blades are fake, their getting good at ageing.

10th June 2007, 11:20 PM	#3
ariel Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 5,503	I am glad I started this thread. When professional collectors cannot agree on the authenticity of an object, there is a high chance we are dealing with a very high-class forgery. Currently, the seller lists 10 old Tibetan swords/daggers ranging between $500-$2,500. Each one looks perfectly old and authentic.

10th June 2007, 11:48 PM	#4
Michael Blalock Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: dc Posts: 271	The sword could be genuine. They have a lot of very overpriced genuine looking antiquies, as much as $99,000.00 buy it now, then there are the $39.00 rugs. I think the stuff over a couple of hundred is just there to get hits on their site. If you go to their website they specialize in mass produced rugs. I would be supprised if you bid you would win the sword. There is another Chinese survey equipment company that does the same thing. They produce a cheap instument and also sell quality ones at a very high price, which only seem to be pruchased by chinese.

11th June 2007, 12:22 AM	#5
spiral Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 1,712	I reckon if you bid $2000 on one of those at least half fake rusty bits of junk sword they will be happy to let you have it! There multiple thousand dollar pieces of Antique Tibetan woodwork, I can see are brand new, like within last few months. {I used to work as a cabinet maker.} So perhaps Ariel is right. If even the blades are fake, its the realist fake pitting Ive ever seen. Or is it? I guess the best fakes are never recognised as such. Thats a sobering thought. Spiral

11th June 2007, 06:43 PM	#7
josh stout Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 407	I looked at all of the blades and they look genuine. However, in the condition they are in, they would not cost much as just the blade in Tibet. The scabbards have a bit of variation in what is fake and what is not. As mentioned the stones and coral look dyed, and there are many relatively recent additions and repairs. There was one blade with unfortunate fittings that even has the rare "jelly role" folding pattern like the one toward the bottom of this page (http://www.vikingsword.com/ethsword/tibet/index.html). The swords are clearly not worth the asking price, but they are not completely fake either. I would say these are typical of many Chinese dealers on eBay or elsewhere. Some things are real, while some things are not. Let the buyer beware. Due to the bad condition of the blades and mixed age of the fittings I would say these are overpriced by about a factor of ten. Josh