My Jian for interest

[kai]

Dimensions including thickness and weight would be great - thanks, all!

[werecow]

Weight in scabbard 1049g, outside scabbard: 385g (left), 379g (right)
Length in scabbard: 59cm
Length outside scabbard: both 57cm, 42cm blades measured from the inside of the hilt (or 40.5cm measured from the outside scabbard cover protrusion)

They taper slightly in thickness and profile until the last 2cm or so, one a bit more than the other (which explains the slight difference in weight).

Width / thickness at the guard: 32mm / 5mm
Width / thickness halfway down the blade: 29mm / 4mm
Width / thickness 2cm before the tip: 22mm / 3.5mm (right), 4mm (left)

EDIT: POB between 9.5-10cm from the inner guard.

[David R]

This one, a single blade in the scabbard and made that way. Total length of sword 56 cm, blade length 42 cm. Weight in scabbard 516 gms, sword alone 344 gms.

[werecow]

Interesting that yours is ~10% lighter than either of mine while presumably having a more substantial grip.

[Jim McDougall]

As noted by Gav in his post #2, this interesting yellow backed tortoise shell type dress does seem to be diplomatically oriented and the convention situated in about mid 19th c.
This example of similar dress uses a much earlier blade with Manchu characters stamped into the willow leaf style blade.

[Jim McDougall]

As noted by Gav in his post #2, this interesting yellow backed tortoise shell type dress does seem to be diplomatically oriented and the convention situated in about mid 19th c.
This example of similar dress uses a much earlier blade with Manchu characters stamped into the willow leaf style blade.

[kronckew]

Yellow was the Imperial colour.


I read somewhere that a lot of these were made for the armouries if fortified villages and towns for issue to civilians when needed.


Mine looks a bit less classy. Has the heavenly 7 stars brass insets on the blade tho.

[David R]

I remember seeing some old village armoury jian and they were forged all iron and steel blade, guard and pommel with laminated blades. Then I found the original site, here. https://forum.grtc.org/search.php?keywords=village+jian

[Philip]

Originally Posted by kronckew

Yellow was the Imperial colour.


I read somewhere that a lot of these were made for the armouries if fortified villages and towns for issue to civilians when needed.


Mine looks a bit less classy. Has the heavenly 7 stars brass insets on the blade tho.

Your example is a touristic item made in Taiwan, during the Vietnam War era. I saw some in a shop in Waikiki, of all places, with tiny paper labels "made in Taiwan" on them. They also had Thai dhas with aluminum ferrules and guards which were also brought back as souvenirs by GIs on R&R in Thailand. On these jian-like objects, the rustic wood carving is something I suppose is a simplistic and not-very-realistic interpretation of Taiwan aboriginal craft work because you don't find this sort of timber or style of deco on the scabbards of real antique jian.