Jim, I understand exactly what you are saying, and I do agree that it is always desirable that a photo of a complete piece is provided, along with a detail of the piece. Most especially in a context where most of the people viewing this particular site have a dedicated interest in weapons, rather than scripts.
This is the reason I lodged my apology with the original question, and according to my own standards of acceptable behaviour, no more should have been said in this respect.
Gentlemen do not question one another's apologies.
I asked a very simple question, on behalf of another person.
That question involved text.
If the text could be read, an answer would have been appreciated.
It appears that it may be able to be understood to some degree, but not read. This is not a problem, and is something I myself encounter quite frequently in my own field of knowledge. The people who placed script on weapons were never likely to be scribes.
I know two people with the ability to read old scripts. One has the ability to read old Chinese scripts, the other has the ability to read old Cyrillic scripts. The gentleman who can read old Chinese scripts is a research fellow at a Chinese university. Neither of these people need any knowledge of the object upon which the script is placed, to be able read it. Either they can read it, or they cannot.
Again, using my own field of expertise as a reference, I will say this:- neither I, nor anybody else I know who has some ability to read old Indonesian scripts needs a complete weapon to assist them to read the script:- either they can read it, or they cannot, whether it be on a weapon, a mirror, a cup, or a piece of paper.
The query I lodged was strictly relevant to the script, it had nothing whatsoever to do the object upon which that script was placed.
As I have said:- this was a very simple question, however, the answer to this simple question has proven to be rather obscure.
As far as I am concerned, this matter is closed. I thank all those who have attempted to assist in this matter, and I will advise my friend that notwithstanding the very best efforts of a number of knowledgeable people, the meaning of this script is still open to some degree of question.
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