Ban sword of the Lepcha people of Sikkim

dennee · 20th April 2012, 05:53 PM

I'd say that one that shows hairpin folding would probably be 19th century. At the beginning of the 20th, Claude White talked about the loss of the traditional methods with the importation of billets of Indian steel.

Bans do bear a resemblance to Bhutanese swords---if you disregard or look beyond the finish of the upper-class patag. Reduced to their basic blades and wood hilts and scabbards, some of the working knives and commoners' short swords look more like bans, if you were to remove half the scabbard. It is the ends of the blades that difer more in shape. I have some photos at home somewhere that I can post later.

20th April 2012, 05:53 PM	#1
dennee Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: College Park, MD Posts: 186	I'd say that one that shows hairpin folding would probably be 19th century. At the beginning of the 20th, Claude White talked about the loss of the traditional methods with the importation of billets of Indian steel. Bans do bear a resemblance to Bhutanese swords---if you disregard or look beyond the finish of the upper-class patag. Reduced to their basic blades and wood hilts and scabbards, some of the working knives and commoners' short swords look more like bans, if you were to remove half the scabbard. It is the ends of the blades that difer more in shape. I have some photos at home somewhere that I can post later.