VOC marked pedang

Ian · Today, 03:22 PM

Hi cel7,

As others have noted, this sword was entirely made in Indonesia and unrelated to the VOC. The VOC mark is clearly spurious; for example, the "C" is horizontally not vertically oriented. There are further aspects of the mark that are incorrect, but I won't help the "forgers" by pointing out other errors. The mistake in transcription likely reflects a craftsman unfamiliar with Anglo-European alphabets. This does not necessarily mean that there was an attempt to pass the sword off as Dutch in origin or directly linked to the VOC. Sometimes these foreign inscriptions were intended as a mark of quality, or, as Jim suggests, as a talisman.

Regards,

Ian.

Today, 03:22 PM	#1
Ian Vikingsword Staff Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: The Aussie Bush Posts: 4,173	Hi cel7, As others have noted, this sword was entirely made in Indonesia and unrelated to the VOC. The VOC mark is clearly spurious; for example, the "C" is horizontally not vertically oriented. There are further aspects of the mark that are incorrect, but I won't help the "forgers" by pointing out other errors. The mistake in transcription likely reflects a craftsman unfamiliar with Anglo-European alphabets. This does not necessarily mean that there was an attempt to pass the sword off as Dutch in origin or directly linked to the VOC. Sometimes these foreign inscriptions were intended as a mark of quality, or, as Jim suggests, as a talisman. Regards, Ian.