A Trio of Chinese Swords Joins the Accidental Collection

[Lee]

I do not ever hold high expectations of interesting swords showing up at a nearby general and estate sale auction that I frequent. Though one of a group of four Chinese swords in a recent sale appeared interesting from the teaser photo, my low expectations almost meant I did not attend the preview, but then I went along with a friend who wanted to buy something else that he did not bid on after seeing problems with it that were not evident from the pictures.

The first of these swords was a very nicely made and mounted jian with a stainless steel blade, clearly recent. That left three dao all, upon closer examination, with laminated steel blades. I pursued the two longer examples successfully and left the shorter ring pommel to a competing underbidder who never claimed his purchases and so I ultimately bought the ring pommel when it was re-auctioned.

All of these three swords appear to me to have older blades that have been refurbished by polishing of the blades and rewrapping of the hilts. I turned to Peter Dekker’s excellent essay to refresh myself on what these were.

My favorite from the start, the longest, at bottom in the group images, appears to be a yànmáodāo (goose quill saber) by curvature or a yútóudāo (fish head saber) by profile with a concave back false edge from the rise on the back.

The middle one also has a brisk turn-up in the distal curvature of the blade, but there is a very gentle curvature proximal to that so I suspect this would best be called a liuyèdāo (willow leaf saber) rather than being another goose quill example. This blade seems to have been in the worst condition of the group prior to its repolishing.

I’ll appreciate any further insights members may wish to provide.