Chinese Swordsticks

Iliad · 1st December 2008, 10:34 PM

Hello everybody,
I have had so much pleasure from my recent postings that I am encouraged to try again! I have a pair of chinese swordsticks (pics attached) about which I know very little. About a year ago a Chinese gentleman came to my home on another matter and I showed him the swordsticks. He was able to read the characters and he told me that in his opinion the items came from the Forbidden City and would have been a present from the Emperor to a trusted Palace official. On the opening up of the Forbidden City, many items were looted and sold.
He later sent me an email which said "They were made in 1876, the second year of the Guangxu Emperor of Qing Dynasty. The small individual words on the stick combined by four words and written in different font, they are blessing, salary, longevity and happy. The old man on the stick we called him the god of longevity. The two big individual words on the stick, one means longevity, and the other means blessing. There are also two sentences on the stick, with four words each sentence, they mean: bless the old that their happiness be like the East Sea, and longevity over the southern hill."
I have no idea if what he said is true. Do the experts have comments?
Brian (Iliad)

1st December 2008, 10:34 PM	#1
Iliad Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 187	Chinese Swordsticks Hello everybody, I have had so much pleasure from my recent postings that I am encouraged to try again! I have a pair of chinese swordsticks (pics attached) about which I know very little. About a year ago a Chinese gentleman came to my home on another matter and I showed him the swordsticks. He was able to read the characters and he told me that in his opinion the items came from the Forbidden City and would have been a present from the Emperor to a trusted Palace official. On the opening up of the Forbidden City, many items were looted and sold. He later sent me an email which said "They were made in 1876, the second year of the Guangxu Emperor of Qing Dynasty. The small individual words on the stick combined by four words and written in different font, they are blessing, salary, longevity and happy. The old man on the stick we called him the god of longevity. The two big individual words on the stick, one means longevity, and the other means blessing. There are also two sentences on the stick, with four words each sentence, they mean: bless the old that their happiness be like the East Sea, and longevity over the southern hill." I have no idea if what he said is true. Do the experts have comments? Brian (Iliad) Attached Images