A Burmese dha with some interesting features

[Iain]

Its been a long time since I shared anything from my collection which pivoted to mainly Asian arms over the pandemic after a long hiatus from collecting anything. I'll gradually post a few dha/daab in the coming weeks that forumites might find enjoyable.

This is an interesting little piece that turned up in the post yesterday. The scabbard has seen better days but one of the rattan bands is still there. Gorgeous patterning on the hardwood handle and brass niello inlay on the copper alloy fittings. The pommel cap is missing, but was likely simply a simple cap and these seem to often get knocked off, the original resin used to hold it is still in place.

The blade is a bit of a gem, with complex fullering, spine fullering and a lovely transition to a V shaped spine across the rest of the distal taper. It is a bit unusual in that it has engraved script on both sides, an online contact was kind enough to translate it: ဘေးယံကင်း = "Safe" and on the reverse ယံရှင်းဓား = "A sword to remove strife/danger". Likely an auspicious or symbolic set of sayings. The manner of spelling used is consistent with linguistic modernisations that occurred during the later portion of the Konbaung period.

Not the most impressive dha for size or age that I own (and it may not stay that long in the collection) but a very enjoyable piece to have spent an evening with giving a light cleaning, photographing and studying.