Chinese or Korean dao

josh stout · 4th April 2019, 02:30 PM

More pics.

mross · 4th April 2019, 03:45 PM

From what I am seeing in the pics, I wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

josh stout · 4th April 2019, 03:56 PM

So you think it is a bad Chinese copy of a Japanese blade? It is certainly not the best workmanship I have ever seen. If it were better, I would have bid higher.

An argument against it being Korean is that they almost never have a fuller.

mross · 4th April 2019, 04:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by josh stout

So you think it is a bad Chinese copy of a Japanese blade? It is certainly not the best workmanship I have ever seen. If it were better, I would have bid higher.

An argument against it being Korean is that they almost never have a fuller.

Not sure what it is, can't tell much from the pics. Since that's all we have and that's what determines bidding, I would assume they put up the best possible pics. Going on that assumption it does not look to be of very high quality. Chinese weapons are not my best area, but I have never seen anything of high quality in a dress like that. I had a friend who had a Korean dao given to him by his Instructor, no fuller, had a hamon and showed lamination's. I don't see anything like that.

mariusgmioc · 4th April 2019, 08:37 PM

Purely decorative/tourist sword-like object with absolutely no ethnographic or historical value whether Chinese or Korean...

My two cents.

ariel · 4th April 2019, 11:16 PM

Josh,
IMHO, you are lucky that some schmuck put a higher bid.

Timo Nieminen · 6th April 2019, 02:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by josh stout

An argument against it being Korean is that they almost never have a fuller.

Hmm. Almost 1/3 of the Korean do in the History of Steel exhibition have fullers (4 out of 13), so it doesn't seem that rare.

http://www.arscives.com/historysteel...ction_main.htm

josh stout · 9th April 2019, 02:43 PM

Yes, I agonized over this. As a Chinese sword it is not very exciting, but as a Korean sword it is quite interesting. In terms of design characteristics it fits everything for a Korean sword, but not a Chinese or Japanese sword.

It is missing a habaki/tonku, but this also seems to be a somewhat variable trait.

The primary argument against this sword is its overall "showiness" combined with a mediocre blade.

Timo Nieminen · 27th April 2019, 01:58 PM

IMO, the blade looks very modern. As in late 20th or even 21st century, the kind of thing common on modern Chinese-made fake katana/tachi/gunto.

4th April 2019, 02:30 PM	#1
josh stout Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 407	More pics. Attached Images

4th April 2019, 03:45 PM	#2
mross Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 478	From what I am seeing in the pics, I wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

4th April 2019, 03:56 PM	#3
josh stout Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 407	So you think it is a bad Chinese copy of a Japanese blade? It is certainly not the best workmanship I have ever seen. If it were better, I would have bid higher. An argument against it being Korean is that they almost never have a fuller.

4th April 2019, 08:37 PM	#5
mariusgmioc Member Join Date: Sep 2014 Location: Austria Posts: 1,882	Purely decorative/tourist sword-like object with absolutely no ethnographic or historical value whether Chinese or Korean... My two cents.

4th April 2019, 11:16 PM	#6
ariel Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 5,503	Josh, IMHO, you are lucky that some schmuck put a higher bid.

9th April 2019, 02:43 PM	#8
josh stout Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 407	Yes, I agonized over this. As a Chinese sword it is not very exciting, but as a Korean sword it is quite interesting. In terms of design characteristics it fits everything for a Korean sword, but not a Chinese or Japanese sword. It is missing a habaki/tonku, but this also seems to be a somewhat variable trait. The primary argument against this sword is its overall "showiness" combined with a mediocre blade.

27th April 2019, 01:58 PM	#9
Timo Nieminen Member Join Date: Mar 2012 Posts: 422	IMO, the blade looks very modern. As in late 20th or even 21st century, the kind of thing common on modern Chinese-made fake katana/tachi/gunto.