Vietnamese guoms

werecow · 31st May 2022, 08:03 PM

I picked up a slightly unusual guom officer's saber last month (or at least, that's what I think it is).

I've had one without a scabbard for a while, shown for comparison (with the dark horn grip).

The "new" one has a (what looks to me like) ivory grip, with an admittedly somewhat ugly old repair (it looks like it was once split and then glued back on rather crudely; the whole guard could use some cleaning). I suspect the lion(?) head pommel may once have had inlays in the eyes. It looks a little bit stoned with that smirk.

The blade of the new one has considerable girth near the guard but it tapers quickly and the blade is otherwise quite thin and light. It has some geometric patterns of decoration. It looks like it's laminated, though it's hard to tell from the pictures since my phone's camera is not great.

The one I already had does not have much distal taper, and it has a fuller running down the spine and is somewhat shorter and even lighter than the new acquisition. The new one lacks such a fuller. Both have solid connections between the grip and the blade, but loose guards. Both are rather sharp.

The scabbard is decorated with mother of pearl inlays and silver fittings with both scrolling patterns (strikes me as waves or clouds or maybe floral) and a somewhat hidden dragon meandering through. Demon faces on the "plates" that are attached to the guard (not sure what these are called; they also show some signs of an old repair). The chape has a few dents and may be missing it's very tip. One of the rings is a modern replacement.

I hadn't seen one with these kind of decorative plates on the guard before except in one unclear museum photograph that had a subscript calling it an "Ayuddhaya sabre" somewhere on this forum in a thread that I can no longer seem to find (so I've attached it). Are these a common feature?

Your thoughts would be appreciated.

Also if anyone can recommend a good overview book for continental South East Asian swords I'd appreciate it, as I don't have much reading material on swords from this part of the world yet.

31st May 2022, 08:03 PM	#1
werecow Member Join Date: Sep 2021 Location: Leiden, NL Posts: 493	Vietnamese guoms I picked up a slightly unusual guom officer's saber last month (or at least, that's what I think it is). I've had one without a scabbard for a while, shown for comparison (with the dark horn grip). The "new" one has a (what looks to me like) ivory grip, with an admittedly somewhat ugly old repair (it looks like it was once split and then glued back on rather crudely; the whole guard could use some cleaning). I suspect the lion(?) head pommel may once have had inlays in the eyes. It looks a little bit stoned with that smirk. The blade of the new one has considerable girth near the guard but it tapers quickly and the blade is otherwise quite thin and light. It has some geometric patterns of decoration. It looks like it's laminated, though it's hard to tell from the pictures since my phone's camera is not great. The one I already had does not have much distal taper, and it has a fuller running down the spine and is somewhat shorter and even lighter than the new acquisition. The new one lacks such a fuller. Both have solid connections between the grip and the blade, but loose guards. Both are rather sharp. The scabbard is decorated with mother of pearl inlays and silver fittings with both scrolling patterns (strikes me as waves or clouds or maybe floral) and a somewhat hidden dragon meandering through. Demon faces on the "plates" that are attached to the guard (not sure what these are called; they also show some signs of an old repair). The chape has a few dents and may be missing it's very tip. One of the rings is a modern replacement. I hadn't seen one with these kind of decorative plates on the guard before except in one unclear museum photograph that had a subscript calling it an "Ayuddhaya sabre" somewhere on this forum in a thread that I can no longer seem to find (so I've attached it). Are these a common feature? Your thoughts would be appreciated. Also if anyone can recommend a good overview book for continental South East Asian swords I'd appreciate it, as I don't have much reading material on swords from this part of the world yet. Attached Images Last edited by werecow; 31st May 2022 at 10:40 PM.