Since we seem to be drifting into a more general discussion, I would like to show a little piece that I've had for thirty years.

It's marked "Made by Rollin White for Smith and Wesson".

.22 caliber short, but the most interesting thing to this discussion (and to me, personally), is that the cylinder is engraved with three Chinese characters (old style) "People of Min (Fujian) Province"

I was stumped on this character but an old Chinese man recognized it and explained that Min Province became Fukien (Fujian in pinyin) sometime in the early 20th century.

This pistol bears a striking resemblance to the one illustrated in the old newspaper article.

It also could have been used in China during one or another revolutionary uprising during the 19th or 20th centuries, or, by a member of a Tong during the aforementioned periods, possibly in San Francisco.

In interesting gun, is it the 7 shot model? Thanks to posting it and your other items, all part of history. I have seen several weapons from other countries end up in China, brought there by foreign military forces, one in particular is a very distintive Indian axe, most likely left by Indian troops serving with the British in China. The other possibility is that the pistol was inscribed in America by a Chinese national working in the US.

Thanks for posting the very interesting handgun. I am fascinated for a number of reasons, but I am worried that this will get us off the more general thread on "fighting irons" or "sword-breakers". Perhaps you could post a separate thread? I would love to comment.

Thanks.

As I said in my initial posting when I put the images of the pistol up, I plan on re posting this in its own thread.

It was only due to the illustration and the almost exact similarity to the pistol shown in the weapons vignette!

yes
This is China's "hand fork". （手叉）（SHOUCHA)Pair use
Can hit, block and thorn
There are similar weapons in other Asian countries.
Japan, Southeast Asian countries have
The difference lies in the tail, Chinese fork usually have a" eight tail"

Benny, when is search using 手叉 there are no images of shoucha / sai....just forks, is there another word? Do you think that either of these are Chinese, these are in my collection.

Do you mean eight sided?

Is he referring to the butt being octagon or the shaft?

Yes, there are eight sides.

These two are also China's weapons
Because of this weapon is not a standard equipment, so many of his titles in the civil
Can be called "铁尺"（Iron ruler）（TIE CHI)

An image I have on file that was shared elsewhere recently.

Gavin

Iron ruler
 

I bought this quite some time ago in a box lot of Tibet and Mongolian knives and trousse and upon playing with it recently, it is a most effective and destructive little item...the question is, is it actually a weapon, i.e; an iron ruler or something else like a sharpening steel?

It is just under 34.5cms long. the grip is rectangular and shaped for fitment in the hand. The "blade" for want of a better word is thicker and broader than the handle and an elliptical cross section and a tapering tip...no sharp edges, just effective blunt force trauma.
POB is at the half way mark, which is putting all the weight forward but little to no effort in the hand.

Gavin

Does it have a hairpin lamination? It looks like it has something. How thick is it? It certainly looks like it could be a weapon but I have not seen anything like it.

Hi Josh,

No hairpin lamination, but I too see activity within the patina.
It is 7mm thick at the base and 4cms wide.

Gavin

Thanks for the info Gavin! This is certainly a strange one. It certainly seems too well made and too solid to be anything other than a weapon, but I have seen laminated heat-treated scissors. The "tonkou" brass work looks vaguely like it could have been made in Western China/Eastern Tibet. It reminds me of Yi swords. When you look closely at the lamination, does it have a "Tibetan" feel to it even if it is not hairpin?

This is a fascinating thread which until now I have missed :o
Miguel

I am at a total loss with this one Josh, it could just as well be a "higher" end iron spatula that one had a large ring to the pommel end...one thing is for certain though, it is very well forged and very devastating in the the wrong hands.

Gavin

I would also say it is a weapon, based on what the fact that the Japanese and Chinese used a vast array of blunt force weapons, there afre bound to be some that are not well known, this could an example.