Bhutan spear

[josh stout]

Clearly the sword is a Bhutanese patag, but the spear is more difficult to identify. The new cloth wrapping looks traditional, but it obscures the details of the spear. I am not familiar with Bhutanese spears in particular, but they should be similar to Tibetan lances/spears. The double hook is not something I have seen on Tibetan lances, but one does see them on Chinese infantry weapons as mentioned. Unfortunately I can't think of any Tibetan pole weapons other than lances or the ceremonial standards mentioned. A Tibetan lance can have a blade with a triangular cross section, as seems to be the case here, similar to Chinese examples, and often, a rather long neck before the socket attaches to the shaft. Some have speculated that the long neck may be due to the poor wood on the Himalayan plateau, while the Tibetan examples shown at the Met (Arms and Armor of Tibet) also have a thick spiral of iron wire down the shaft, perhaps to strengthen the poor wood.