Northern Thai or Laotian daab

[Iain]

Originally Posted by DhaDha

What a lovely sword! I think because they are so rare, the type is either overlooked or under-appreciated by Western collectors. The one that I've held has all the qualities you describe. It is missing the pommel fitting but other than that- and maybe because of that - the rest of the sword is in really good condition. The blade has what I think is the original polish and shows a really nice pattern over the entire length. A wonderful thing in hand.

A very nice example with interesting lamination showing. Yours is of a type I have seen described as one of the typical Laos types, this being the Vientiane type. The ones I have seen usually have a lotus bud pommel and the same long metal grip area yours obviously had. Does yours have a V profile spine? They often seem to.



Mine seems to belong to a slightly different style with less of a 'swelling' at the base of the guard to the ferrule and a simpler pommel concept, similar to some Thai examples with only a simple cap.

That being said, even with these little differences, there is obviously some family similarity between yours and mine, while mine might have the simplest of pommels I kind of like the simplicity. It is certainly a combination of aspects that seem to be common to the general Lanna/Lan Xang area, which makes sense given the long political, economic and military connections between these areas.


Needless to say congratulations on also having an extremely rare piece and one with a blade in beautiful condition!