Help with identifying this blade.

[Thomas W]

Hi all

This is my first post here, I posted this question on swordforum and Jason Anstey referred me here.

And here is my question.

This is my first post here and would like some help to identify a sword, I am a total novice in this field.
I recently inherited a sword from my father, my guess is that the sword is bought around 1970 or earlier.

Just interested in it's history and who made it, so any help would be appreciated.









/Thomas

[Mark]

Thomas,

This is a daab from Thailand, made in Aranyik (spelled Arunyig on the blade). I have never seen the maker's mark, but it probably identifies one of the several shops there.

Dates are hard to judge from photographs, but I would not place it older than your estimate. These were often brought home as souvenirs by GIs who went on leave in Thailand, or other travellors passing through. Serge (cozun) can probably give better specifics, as he has close contacts with the smiths at Aranyik.

[Jason Anstey]

Hi Thomas,

Nice to see you here.

Interestingly the wood appears to be Thailand Rosewood - Payung Deeng. Which is quite a bit more expensive than teak. If Serge pops his head in I am sure he will have more info.

Cheers

Jason

[DhaDha]

Hello there. Interesting. I have an exact twin to that one (complete with stamp). I can tell you that it is definately of a higher quality than a lot of the "bring-backs" from the 70's - I also agree with your date. And I believe the blade is tempered. I've always thought it was for krabi krabong practice. But I've always wondered why the stamp was in english if that was the case.
Shawn

[RhysMichael]

The image does fit with a krabi krabong background, take note of the standard used by the BUDDHAI SWAN. The symbols on it while not exactly the same are similar

http://www.usmta.com/images/Standerd_jpg.jpg

[Thomas W]

Thanks all for the information , if anyone else has anything to add about this blade please do.


/Thomas

[Jason Anstey]

I received this info from Serge, he seems to be very busy so I thought I would post a snippit and he can fill in the rest

"under the logo, the "2509", that can only be the year it was made, so now being the year 2550 in Thailand (according to Buddha's birth year) that piece is indeed 41 year old - back from 1966."

Cheers

Jason

[cozun]

Originally Posted by Jason Anstey

I received this info from Serge, he seems to be very busy so I thought I would post a snippit and he can fill in the rest

"under the logo, the "2509", that can only be the year it was made, so now being the year 2550 in Thailand (according to Buddha's birth year) that piece is indeed 41 year old - back from 1966."

Cheers

Jason

Thanks for feeding in Jason.

Now to the historical background of this sword: during the fabrication period of that sword, the village of Aranyik had a kind of sword fabricators' guild or association, thus the name 'co-operative', and this involved around 70 people. It is now not possible to say who exactly did what part of the sword yet one detail that is interessting is that the leader of the group was none other than the father of Khun Lung Boonsom of 'Sor Arunyig', my main source for swords in the village at the present. After the man passed away about ten years ago, the co-operative was disolved and nowadays each fabricator, workshop or shop is working independently, still with now and then participation of another fabricator, yet the occurence is rare and only for specific tasks, this being related to the production process or combined with common business.
What is also not done anymore, at least not to my recent experience, is the numbering of the blade, like the number 15 of the concerned sword in this thread.
Further, the used steel is difficult to identify, yet the resemblence of the work compared to what another smith in the North of Thailand is doing, allows me to speculate that the blade has been hand polished and that the steel might be of the W1 sort (steel used by the smith in the North for his blades that I will introduce soon).

I trust these latest information will satisfy your curiosity, if I find out more I'll post again.

Yours,
Serge.

[Ian]

This is the first dated example I can recall of a Thai daab of recent manufacture. Dating on older swords is certainly uncommon, although there are some examples.

I would be interested to know if others have seen similar examples of recently dated swords aside from the two mentioned here.

And why stamp these swords in English? Were they made perhaps for the U.S. market?

Thanks serge for the information on the manufacture of this sword.

Ian.

[Thomas W]

Hi

Sorry for not answering earlier, just got back from vacataion.

Thank you all for your information, this is very interesting, and especially Serge for his specific knowledge.


/Thomas