Info on sword...Tibetan/Nepalese ??????

[dennee]

The hilt might have looked something like the attached photo.

It's hard to date Bhutanese swords closely. From what I have read, it seems that that type of suspension of the scabbard (hung vertically from a belt just behind the right hip using a rawhide thong) was adopted about the last quarter of the eighteenth century, although wearing a sword thrust through the belt never completely disappeared. Of course, most extant swords would tend to be substantially later---just a factor of median date of production and durability over time. Traditional Bhutanese swords were apparently produced until about 50 years ago. A sword might be easier to date if it still had all its fittings; with the one pictured, the white metal cap suggests to me late nineteenth of early twentieth century. I would guess that most extant are from around that period.

By the way, I should have said "fluted octagonal" rather than reeded.