Small heavy jian sword

[francantolin]

Hello everybody,

i bought this small jian sword,
I think it's an old piece with nice brass-bronze ? mounts

I just received it and was surprised by the weight of the sword and the thickness of the blade,
almost 1cm thick with a diamond cross section shape.
I it usual ?

Seems of good facture, really sharp edge
the tip is round.

[francantolin]

The blade...

Thank you for your comments !

[Ren Ren]

I have an unpleasant feeling that only the blade has historical value.

[francantolin]

Hello,
I found on internet this old sword with the same heavy blade ,
the hilt seems looks like too, guard too but is reversed,

for the mounts, yes a bit strange, there is velvet under the up and tip mounts,
the dragon and the tip mount looks like this one, maybe a copy of this old model ?
but really well made-chiselled.

[francantolin]

The jian disassembled,

old velvet cover remains or just a piece put on a ''new'' scabbard ?
Any advices about age ?
End Qing era ?

[francantolin]

And one more picture of the thick - razorblade edge

I find amazing how the could do that on such a large blade !

Kind regards

[Philip]

Originally Posted by francantolin

Hello,
I found on internet this old sword with the same heavy blade ,
the hilt seems looks like too, guard too but is reversed,

The guard on the sword in your post was not installed backward. It is put on the proper way, it's just that it's a different design with the "quillons" facing forward. You can see the hollow part in the front where the blade comes out. This shows that the guard is on the proper way because this opening contains the mouth of the scabbard when the sword is sheathed.

Most jian have guards which have this recess to accept the end of the scabbard. In this respect the design is similar to that of the crossguards on Turkish kilij which also have an opening for the scabbard mouth.

The exception are those jian with flat disc guards like those seen on sabers.