[Shakethetrees]

Unpacking some stuff from storage and this guy turned up.

I bought it when I was in XiAn, China in 1987, at a "free" market that was built up series of stalls on the burial mound of Qin Shi Huang Di.

Walking up and down the lane in hunt mode revealed almost everything as reproduction tourist junk, supposedly from various burials in the region. 99% junk, with some banged up household utensils thrown in for "antique" cred.

A vendor caught my eye when he drew the knife and hacked the edge of his booth, which was made of heavy gauge (+ or - .051 inch, or 1.5mm thick). It cut an oblique slash about 3/4" deep clean through the metal! Some poor person had to have caught their hand or shoulder on the razor sharp curl later!

He had me, so I bought it.

A ray skin covered wooden scabbard with brass mounts and an iron ring, concealed a blade that appeared to have some sort of crystalline structure.

I have some etching solution and was wondering if blades of this type have any worthwhile figure that will show up once it's cleaned and etched?

Any comments, as usual, are most welcome.