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#1 |
Member
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 736
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I just received this sword, seller told me sword is chinese, and the hilt seems chinese to me too.
Maybe pirate? Seems a cutlass Thanks in advance Carlos |
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#2 |
Member
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Austria
Posts: 1,903
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Doesn't look Chinese to me...
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#3 |
Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 1,069
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And it looks republic period Chinese to me... and I could be so wrong. Looking forward to more on this one.
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#4 |
Member
Join Date: Jun 2013
Posts: 2,145
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For me the hilt is a combination of two European swords
European swords have also stingray skin. Not Chinese to me Cutlass and naval sword probably Pirate... Do you have a skull engraved on the guard? Impossible to say ![]() |
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#5 |
Member
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: California
Posts: 1,036
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I agree with Kubur -- this is a non-Chinese composite, in fact I see nothing specifically Asiatic about it at all.
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#6 |
Member
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: NC, U.S.A.
Posts: 2,087
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If you mention 'pirate', you get my attention-
![]() I agree that the components of the guard and knucklebow appear European, but something about the grip strikes me as differing from pieces I have held. Composite? Undoubtedly, but in this circumstance, not in a bad way. This isn't a put-together made to deceive or for resale. It appears to be a real cutlass-type sword of the "private purchase, i.e. not a naval sword type). Pirate? Who knows. Without provenance, it might or might not be. The extra spacer used to tighten the hilt has been seen on some Spanish colonial types. I know shagreen/fish skin was used on Euro swords, but this grip is a shape more often seen on colonial-type swords. I think that's why some of us are questioning Asian. Could this have been a captured British cutlass rehilted by Malay pirates? I've seen exactly that from a m1840 cutlass cut down and refitting, complete with a Malay grip. Is this sword one such? Again, who knows! This is the frustrating work of collecting composite naval and colonial-type swords. What we can deduce is that it is a post-1800 naval type sword constructed of materials to be used as a working weapon. Fits the description of many boarding-type swords (see Gilkerson, Boarders Away, private purchase swords). An interesting sword, in any case... |
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