Dha, dharb?? Regional ID, age??

[wilked aka Khun Deng]

I definately concur with Andrew, Burmese. During one discussion with Lung Som reference tip shapes he drew me a picture of two hua tat shapes, the first with spine edge and blade edge protruding equal, this he claimed was Thai (which includes Northern Thailand) and another like yours with the blade side protruding out past the the spine which he said was Burmese. The simple three piece handle has been used in both northern Thailand and Burma, but most I've seen have been attributed to Burma. The spine work and specifically the transformation from a flat spine to almost a false edge part of the way down the spine I've only seen on those blades attributed to Burma.

I've found very little in my research so far that would conflict with the Greaves/Winston classification system when it comes to the blades of Northern Thailand and Burma. For this reason I'd say Shan. You may have seen me use the term darb questioningly in some posts, if that is causing confusion let me clear it up.

I have used darb in some posts as a term of reference because when I conducted interviews in Bangkok and Aranyik the term darb was the term used to reference all swords. All but Mrs. Nattapat were unfamiliar with the term dha. In my interview with her I noticed that she used the word darb for swords from central Thailand and dha for swords from Northern Thailand and Burma, I guess I unconsciously picked it up, but there are some differences between the two. I really hadn't thought about it till you asked the question in your post title.

The darb I've seen generally appear to have a thinner blade, at least they get substantially thinner as you move away from the hilt and are more flexible than the dha of northern Thailand and Burma (though I've never measured them). Those attributed to central Thailand had either a parrallel blade profile or a more pronounced belly swell and while many of the common darb blades also have the simple three piece handle the better pieces don't show the same handle configuration rather they are multi-pieced segmented construction. Additonally Lung Som has told me that Thai blades (again meaning "central Thailand") have squared shoulders at the tang while the northern and Burmese angle or are concave at the tang. With the limited number of blades that I have seen out of the handle that has held true. I'd like to know if anyone else has noticed this. While knowledge is still limited these are just general conclusions I've drawn - as yet unsubstantiated.

A Shan attributed blade, the blade side tip has obviously been worn down through use (in person you can see it).

Nice pick-up BTW.