A Huge Burmese Lance

[CharlesS]

This Burmese lance is of a most beautiful and elegant form, not to mention unique. The lance is 103in., so quite long, with a spearhead of 15in. and an actual diamond sectioned blade of 11in. The haft is covered over most of the wood with segmented silver sleeves. At the bottom is a curious aluminum(replacement?) sleeve and iron toe.

The head, to my eye, reminds me of some Chinese and Vietnamese styles. Note how well forged and polished(and now cleaned) the actual blade is vs. the socket that is quite rough. The screw in the socket may not be original to the blade, but has certainly been there for a very long time as its patina matches the patina of the socket.

The silver bulbous ornaments are quite curious, but a very similar example of this type of lance can be found in Ian Heath's book Armies of the 19th Century: ASIA: Burma and Indo-China in a drawing on page 99, Figure 57. In this case he attributes it to the Northern Shan. Though this is obviously just a drawing it is based on historical accounts and eye witnesses.

The last photo here shows the lance with two other Burmese lances/spears with different spearheads, but of similar length and decoration.

[Sajen]

Beautiful lance!

[asomotif]

Unique, rare, I believe this without a doubt.

But beatiful ? not imho.

[CharlesS]

Originally Posted by asomotif

Unique, rare, I believe this without a doubt.

But beatiful ? not imho.

In a way I have to agree with you here. I have really marveled at how much artistic effort was put into the decorated hafts, yet so little effort in the forged spear heads....just doesn't seem to make sense does it? Such elegant hafts with such rough blades!

[A. G. Maisey]

Here is a photo of some pole arms in the museum Radya Pustaka in Solo, Central Jawa.

The cabinets are about seven feet high, the pole arms probably around 14 feet long.

These very long pole arms were used mainly for crowd control.

The ones with the forked heads with reverse teeth were for holding people who ran amuk and for other criminals.

[ashoka]

very nice but not unique! It came with another identical so definitely of a type.

Originally Posted by CharlesS

This Burmese lance is of a most beautiful and elegant form, not to mention unique. The lance is 103in., so quite long, with a spearhead of 15in. and an actual diamond sectioned blade of 11in. The haft is covered over most of the wood with segmented silver sleeves. At the bottom is a curious aluminum(replacement?) sleeve and iron toe.

The head, to my eye, reminds me of some Chinese and Vietnamese styles. Note how well forged and polished(and now cleaned) the actual blade is vs. the socket that is quite rough. The screw in the socket may not be original to the blade, but has certainly been there for a very long time as its patina matches the patina of the socket.

The silver bulbous ornaments are quite curious, but a very similar example of this type of lance can be found in Ian Heath's book Armies of the 19th Century: ASIA: Burma and Indo-China in a drawing on page 99, Figure 57. In this case he attributes it to the Northern Shan. Though this is obviously just a drawing it is based on historical accounts and eye witnesses.

The last photo here shows the lance with two other Burmese lances/spears with different spearheads, but of similar length and decoration.

[CharlesS]

Originally Posted by ashoka

very nice but not unique! It came with another identical so definitely of a type.

In this case I meant unique in its look, or appearance, and not necessarily in its rarity.

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by asomotif

Unique, rare, I believe this without a doubt.

But beatiful ? not imho.

Hello Willem,

it's the question if we can call a weapon as beautiful since it's mainly worked for killing humans. I have maybe chosen the wrong word. The silver work is magnificent IMO.

Regards,
Detlef

[Nathaniel]

Fantastic piece, Charles! Love the variety in lance heads and orb/ disk/ ball decor. The silver beaded decorated sections above and between the disks looks high quality. I'm guessing the silverwork overall might be a step above the other two? The screw through the socket is curious makes you wonder if the tips were removed and later reattached in the UK long ago??? I'm guessing these are more ceremonial pieces, but could be used as well... would it be possible to see a picture of the butt spike? Curious that the butt section has a replacement of aluminium...a more economical local replacement...I know in SEA you do see aluminum or an alloy sometimes referred to as Miao silver, that isn't really silver, ie aluminium used in jewelry/decor...