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Originally Posted by Radu Transylvanicus
If I could only see the blade we might even go as far as saying that it was inspired by a dha , wouldn't that be something ?
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Thinking about it, that might not be such an outlandish idea. The Kingdom of Siam was sending emissaries to the court of Louis XIV, and eventually had an embassar. At the same time, re-fitted (and even non-refitted) Japanese swords were common as royal accessories in Siam. It is not out of the question that among gifts sent to Louie Louie (ohh, oohh, we got to go ....) were one or more Japanese-style swords. Perhaps this armorer saw one, or whoever commissioned it saw one.
As an interesting side-note, the King of Siam gave a Japanese style sword to the U.S. President (I forget who), which is not on display in a corner or the Smithsonian Museum of American History. I will see if I can find a picture on the internet, and if not I'll try and get a photo. It has a beautiful watered steel blade.
Later ...
I remembered that Dan had posted pictures of the "samurai" Siamese court swords on the old forum. Note the similarity in the handles.
The thread is
here