Montagnard dha?

[Ian]

Originally Posted by AHite

... To clarify this is a Vietnamese-made sword, correct?

This is likely a "Montagnard" sword. Montagnard (Fr. mountain people) is a general term for various ethnic groups that occupy mountainous areas mainly in Central Vietnam, but extending to the north into Laos and the south into parts of Cambodia. Related groups are also found in neighboring southern China (Yunan Province). When I lived in Minneapolis, I met a sizeable number of Hmong who were considered part of the "Montagnard." Some of them did not like being called Vietnamese, and many had fought with the U.S. against the North Vietnamese.

... I recently acquired a Thai-made dha, along with a shorter bladed knife of the same construction. You are undoubtedly familiar with these. I'm interested in why aluminum was used as guards on these. On mine, it's a roughly 1/8 inch thick stamped aluminum sheet. I wonder if the availability of French aluminum coins started the use of this material as a guard, then later continued as scrap aluminum became more available with the warfare in the area. Aluminum as a guard material would be my last choice as a guard due to being a softer metal...

The daab you refer to generally do not have functional blades. They are decorative items, sold mainly to those who travel—GIs returning from the Vietnam War often brought them home as souvenirs. I don't think that prior use of French aluminum coins had much to do with later daab being decorated with aluminum scavenged from scrap metal. This was more of an opportunistic usage.

A variety of French (and Chinese) coins were used occasionally for guards and as decorative objects on Indochinese swords and knives (usually alloys of silver or copper). These coins were made from fairly soft metals that, although durable, would not have made very good guards.